Apple Watch is definitely a companion health device as it now offers features such as heart monitoring, ECG, oximeter, and more. This time, however, Apple Watch was credited for supposedly detecting a woman’s pregnancy before she even had any idea about it.
Apple Watch reportedly detects pregnancy before clinical testing
The story was shared by an Apple Watch user on Reddit. According to the 34-year-old woman, she became suspicious that something was different as the watch pointed out that her average resting heart rate had increased considerably in a matter of days. “Usually my resting heart rate is about 57 and my heart rate has increased to 72,” said the user.
There are a lot of reasons why a person’s heart rate increases considerably. At first, the woman believed she could have COVID-19 since some people can experience fast heart rate as one of the symptoms, but a COVID test showed her that this wasn’t the case. It didn’t seem to be just a normal cold either.
That’s when she found some articles online saying that pregnant women can also notice an accelerated heart rate in the very first weeks of pregnancy. “I read sometimes this happens with early pregnancy and sure enough instantly the test was positive,” she added.
After going to a clinic for a pregnancy test, a doctor confirmed that the woman was four weeks pregnant. Of course, Apple Watch has no official feature to detect pregnancy, but it’s interesting to see how the watch detected that there was something different than usual going on just by the change in average heart rate.
After this experience, the user tells others to pay attention to the Apple Watch’s heart rate alerts.
I am freaking out as I am not ready for another baby but this allows me time to consider my options and think about what I am going to do. I know this might be an offbeat use for the watch but if you’re a woman of child rearing age and your watch shows a HR increase it might be worth it to test!
Cycle Tracking features
Apple Watch features a Cycle Tracking app that lets users record details about their menstrual cycle. With Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra, Apple has added a body temperature sensor that is also able to help improve period predictions and provide retrospective ovulation estimates based on temperature changes during sleep.
You can learn more about how these features work on Apple’s website.
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