In life, you may have heard of a function called "ECG", which can also be called "EKG", which has gradually been used in wearable devices in recent years. Such as Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, Apple Watch Series 6, OPPO Watch, etc., are equipped with electrocardiogram sensors. So what is its principle and what is its function?
ECG is the abbreviation of Electrocardiogram, and is a device for measuring cardiac electrical activity. Each beat of the heart creates radio waves, which causes it to contract and deliver blood to other parts of the body. An electrocardiogram is to measure the radio wave to know the health of the person's heart. It does this by measuring the amount of activity at the midpoint of the heart and the time between two heartbeats, which can determine whether the heart's activity is normal, slow, fast, or irregular.
In the past, this technology was mainly used by professional doctors to evaluate patients. The doctor will stick an adhesive electrode patch to the patient's chest, arms and legs. The patches are connected to a dedicated machine that can display the electrical activity of the heart. And the whole process is very simple, without any pain at all, and can be completed in just about ten minutes.
So, since the process of electrocardiogram measurement is so simple, why do you still need to integrate this function into a smart wearable device? There are probably these reasons: First, smart wearable devices account for a large proportion of health monitoring attributes in everyone's hearts. They were able to perform exercise monitoring before, and then heart rate monitoring. Now that ECG monitoring is undoubtedly a gimmick. Secondly, for people with heart disease, they often need to monitor their heart health. At this time, having a smart watch equipped with an electrocardiogram sensor can reduce the number of measurements in the hospital. Of course, wrist-based ECG is never a replacement for professional medical ECG tests. It may be helpful in some cases, but if heart health problems arise, you should still consult a professional doctor in time.
However, not everyone needs a smart wearable device equipped with ECG. ECG in consumer wearables is undoubtedly a niche feature, and without heart disease, there is no need to use wearables equipped with ECG. And manufacturers obviously know this, so not all smart wearable devices have this feature, and some directly release an ECG version in the series. In addition, in order to sell wearable devices with ECG, sensors also need to obtain medical licenses before they can be put on the market, and some wearable devices may not have obtained relevant licenses, and this feature is added just for gimmicks.
And then again, wearables with ECG capabilities are suitable for those who need to regularly evaluate their heart rhythm for a variety of reasons. They may need to monitor symptoms such as arrhythmia or atrial fibrillation and hope that the wearable device can provide a preventive effect. Therefore, whether you need to have a smart wearable device equipped with ECG is mainly based on your own needs.
