Among the high-tech and highly anticipated gadgets, yesterday’s event in San Francisco revealed that an Apple app keeps track of an unborn child’s heart rate, which could be a groundbreaking feature to help expecting mothers and doctors alike.
In-home healthcare seems to be the direction technology is heading, with more and more developments focusing on keeping track of a customer’s health, along with advice on how to better improve their lifestyle. The market seems to be expanding, and this time, in what could be a highly useful and incredibly beneficial use for modern gadgets.
Among the news on iPhone, iPad, and the new Apple TV, the company along with Airstrip had revealed an incredible update on their watchOS2 system, that comes with a Sense4Baby tracking monitor to help mothers and medical health care professionals toss away the long tests that only place more stress on mothers.
The new Apple Watch can successfully monitor both the mother’s heart rate and the unborn child’s . According to Airstrip, there are currently 3.5 million expecting mothers in the hospitals that are using real-life health tracking devices, especially within the third trimester of high risk pregnancies.
Pregnant women often undergo fetal monitoring called Non-Stress Test (NST) in order to ascertain both the mother’s and child’s heart rate, which further places more strain on the mothers due to worries about their baby’s health. The test requires a visit to the hospital, a 30 to 40 minutes long session, during which is often difficult for the doctor to differentiate between two different heart beats.
The new Apple Watch is set to change that, and lessen the worries of expecting mothers by turning the complicated test into a simple monitoring app. The information will be easily sent to medical health professional, without multiple visitations during the final weeks of pregnancy.
All the data will be sent to their Apple Watch, which can be forwarded to doctors without the hassle and stress of usual methods that keep a watchful eye on the child’s health. It will measure heart rate of the unborn baby, the mother’s, along with contractions during labor.
It can effectively reduce stress levels for pregnant women, and improve efficiency for doctors.
The device could possibly be a game changer among rural communities who don’t have access to expensive or multiple pieces of equipment within smaller hospitals. Timing is invaluable in healthcare, and the Apple Watch will provide real-time, well updated information that could help make sure your unborn baby is in well health without a doctor’s visit and stressful test.
Image source: fastcompany.com
Erlend Thune says
If you want to know how your own heart rate varies without looking at a display, I can recommend my app “Heart Rate Training” for iphone/ipad/ipod touch. Provided you have a bluetooth smart heart rate sensor connected, the app will use synthetic speech to announce your heart rate as often as you like. You can choose whether you want the reading to be heartbeats per minute or the percentage of your maximum heart rate. The synthetic speech takes away the need of looking at a display to know your heart rate. Instead you can use your ears to get this information and concentrate your eyes elsewhere. I made the app to manage to stay in the right heart rate zones when training or competing. The app is free, but you will be encouraged to buy it. You can download the app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heart-rate-training/id1014082292?mt=8