Apple Watch gets credited with saving the life of a 25-year old
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On Thanksgiving weekend, 25-year old Zachary Zies thanked his Apple Watch for saving his life. Recently graduated from Ohio State University, Zies had been suffering from a genetic disease called Friedreich's Ataxia that attacks some vital parts of the body including the spine, the brain, and the heart. Now we're not doctors per se, but we've watched enough medical shows to know that you might need these organs functioning fully in order to experience life. Those with this disease have problems walking and talking.
So with one strike against him, Zies' story was broadcast on Stamford Connecticut's NBC 24. It seems that the heart rate monitor on his Apple Watch revealed a high resting heart rate for Zies in the neighborhood of 210 beats per minute. A well-trained athlete will have a resting heart rate in the area of 40 per minute. Even the more affordable Apple Watch SE comes with a heart rate monitor that will alert you when your heart is beating too slow or too fast.
After being notified by his Apple Watch, Zies went to his Doctor and underwent a procedure known as an arterial ablation. The latter destroys or scars tissue that is causing faulty heart rhythms which in Zies' case was being caused by arterial flutter.
Besides the heart rate monitor, the Apple Watch Series 5 and 6 models also feature an electrocardiogram to track heart rhythms which can lead to atrial fibrillation or AFib. And the pulse oximeter included in this year's model tracks the oxygen level in your blood. This determines how well your heart is pumping oxygen throughout your body and can be used to detect COVID-19 in some patients. Apple points out that this feature is not for diagnosis.
Zies says that he has mostly recovered and does give credit to the top selling timepiece in the world for another life saved. He said, "The Apple Watch was pretty much telling me something is up, and you need to go in and get help to see what's actually wrong," If you don't own an Apple Watch yet, or know someone who can benefit from its health features, now would be a propitious time to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday prices.
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