After using my Apple Watch Series 4, I’m reminded what data can mean for my heart and, by extension, my mind

“It begins seven years ago, when my doctor asks me whether I want to lose my foot. I say to him: No, I do not want to lose my foot. ‘Good,’ he says back: Monitor your blood sugar, keep it down, and we can manage this disease. Then nobody has to lose a foot,” Dan Hon writes for M.I.T. technology Review. “It turns out I have type 2 diabetes… it’s the foot that does it for me. That’s when I start collecting health data.”
“Gathering this new information requires a patchwork of services, so I approach it like an engineer. I track steps using wearable devices from Fitbit and Nike, and apps like Moves. I watch for high blood pressure with a Withings smart monitor. The data is stored alongside my weight, body fat percentage, and body mass index, all measured with a smart scale. And all the time there’s my blood glucose, measured six times a day, before and after each meal,” Hon writes. “I export the data as CSVs and view it in hand-crafted graphs and dashboards. My ad hoc monitoring system makes me an early adopter, a bona fide member of the quantified-self movement.”
“Seven years later, though, my fringe obsession has become mainstream. My cobbled-together system has been replaced by Apple’s shiny Health app, and I get prompted to exercise by a wearable that is more powerful than my first laptop. And my watch can even monitor my heart,” Hon writes. “Seven years ago I started tracking my blood sugar because I didn’t want to lose a foot. Now, after a month of using the Series 4 Apple Watch, I’m reminded what data can mean for my heart and, by extension, my mind.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch is a lifesaver, plain and simple.
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