Your Apple Watch does more than you think. It can now help find hypertension (high blood pressure), which can be hard to spot. The FDA just gave it the thumbs-up. It’s cool to see how tech and medicine are joining forces to give health tools on your wrist.
The Apple Watch already tracks your heart rate, detects falls, does ECGs, and checks blood oxygen. Now, it can also detect high blood pressure. It checks blood vessel changes and heartbeats for patterns that may mean your blood pressure is too high. It isn’t meant to replace a regular blood pressure check, but it can tell you to go see a doctor. Almost half of adults in the U.S. (over 119 million people) have high blood pressure or are taking meds for it, says the CDC. The issue with high blood pressure is that you may not know you have it. You can have it for years without any signs, until you get heart disease or a stroke. Finding it early is key, and this new Apple feature might help.
Apple has been working on this for years, testing it and making sure it’s right. approval means it’s safe and works well. The feature will be available in over 150 countries soon, like the U.S. and most of Europe, on Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, and the Ultra models. It’s easy to use, too. Regular blood pressure monitors are good, but they’re not that easy to use daily. Most people don’t check their blood pressure every day unless a doctor tells them to. With Apple Watch doing it in the background, it’s simple. The watch can watch and warn you about problems, so you can get help sooner.
This could really change things in healthcare. If tons of people check themselves, it could mean earlier diagnoses and not as many trips to the ER. Doctors might see more patients who got alerts from their watch. Of course, we need to think about privacy, how accurate it is, and how to use the data in clinics. But it looks good overall.
For Apple, this makes the Apple Watch more of a health helper. They’re already doing well in health tech, and this makes them even better. Other tech companies like Google and Samsung are also putting money into health features to make wearables essential for staying healthy. The FDA is also starting to approve more digital health tools if they’re safe and trustworthy. This means we might see more tech products approved as medical devices later on. What this means for you is that your smartwatch might help you find a bad health issue early. It’s not the same as going to the doctor, but it could remind you to take better care of yourself.
Soon, millions of Apple Watch users will have another reason to look at their wrist to check on their health. The Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight on Netflix might be big sports news, but this Apple Watch update could be just as big for your health.
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