
Smartwatches know you’re getting a cold days before you feel ill - tosh
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2117854-smartwatches-know-youre-getting-a-cold-days-before-you-feel-ill/
======
MRD85
I've been using mine like this for years, I actually thought it was common
knowledge that monitoring your heart rate informs you about things like this.
Why else would you wear one? My resting heart rate is around 42 BPM and I know
some of the following things:

* Stress causes an increase. Periods such as university exams cause it to rise and stay high for over a week. I've noticed a direct link between how long it stays high and how likely I am to get burnt out.

* Overtraining. Sometimes I'll train up to 4 hours in a day for a few days in a row. If my heart rate doesn't return to under 50 it's a good sign I need some rest. If it stays above 60 I'll definitely rest.

* Alcohol. If you have a few too many drinks you'll see your heart rate stay high until you're recovered from the drinking.

~~~
HiroshiSan
WOW! 42 BPM, what's your exercise regimen look like?

~~~
scruple
Not OP, but my resting HR is similar (low 40s, occasionally high 30s) and I've
been monitoring it daily for many years now. My routine is full-body strength
conditioning (kettlebells and bodyweight) for an hour 3 times a week. Around
25-50+ miles per week running (with about 80-100 ft. of elevation gain per
mile on average), depending on whatever race I may be training for. I walk
anywhere from 5 to 10 miles a day every day. I take a multi-hour hike every
weekend in the mountains. I mountain bike once or twice a month. I swim once
or twice a month. My wife and I do yoga at home for about an hour on the
weekend. I'll do a multi-day backpacking trip a couple of times a year. I
don't stress out over not training when I'm vacationing or on a backpacking
trip. So, in a normal week, I train 5-7 days. It took me many, many years to
work up to this.

My focus is the running. Everything else that I do is, in my eyes, cross
training and functional training to support the running. I've been a
competitive runner since the 6th grade, having only taken a few years off in
total over the last 25 or so years.

I manage my own minor injuries and will continue working out depending on the
specific injury at hand. Major injuries, I'll see my doctor and do PT. Between
running, cycling, and biking, I've been able to keep active in the face of
almost every injury that I've faced. As I age, though, the minor injuries are
a near constant danger. It's been crucial that I learn to check my ego
multiple times during every single workout.

In all of this, I'm driven by the heart disease in my family. I've been
concerned about my heart health since my father had a massive heart attack and
triple by-pass when I was 17 years old. I'm less than 10 years away from being
the same age that he was when he had that heart attack. My hope is that, by
being this conscious and acting deliberately, I can avoid those same risks and
problems.

------
herf
I noticed this: my heartrate spiked several days before a bad fever. I'd been
traveling and not sleeping well for a few days, and my Fitbit HR monitor went
up 10-15 points. But it also could have been reporting that I was sleeping
badly. Since bad sleep gives increased risk of catching a virus, it's
important to know, but I'm not sure if it was detecting the virus or the sleep
deprivation.

------
pge
while you may not be able to do anything about our own sickness at that point,
you could take steps to prevent spreading an infection to others

~~~
godelski
You definitely can. They even mention one in the article. Taking it easy and
going to bed early vs going out. There are also medicines.

~~~
lgats
What medicine can I take a couple days before I'm feeling symptoms that will
reduce my risk of a full blown infection?

~~~
httpsterio
If its something that would need a course of antibiotics, then those. Although
getting to the doctor and getting a diagnosis is still always necessary.

If it's just the common flu, lots of zinc and vitamin c.

------
habitue
I just checked because I just got pneumonia and I wear a Fitbit. Sure enough,
my resting heart rate increased a couple days before I got sick

------
marpstar
serious question: what can we do with advanced knowledge of a viral infection
like the common cold?

~~~
HelenePhisher
Zinc intake. Studies made clear that a supplement of Zinc can help prevent the
outbreak of a cold.

~~~
graeme
How much?

~~~
HelenePhisher
This is still to be discussed but most studies mention the intake of 50-100
mg/day.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136969/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136969/)
mentions 75mg,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_gluconate#Zinc_gluconate_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_gluconate#Zinc_gluconate_and_the_common_cold)
is a good starting point for further research.

But as always, consider every supplement carefully. I took 50mg a day before
and noticed some inconvenient side effects like bad odour of my sweat and very
dry skin. ATM, I just take 50mg/week, and I didn't experience a cold in the
last two years (for whatever reason).

------
npunt
Since you’re most infectious at the beginning of a flu, this could be great
for preventing outbreaks because it could tell the user to take measures to
limit the spread, like wearing a facemask and avoiding people as much as
possible.

------
vrodic
Smartwarches have body temperature sensors now? Which ones are okay to buy?

------
tejtm
and then they had a feature where they warned you with a changed color, then
they were made bright enough to alert the other people around you, then there
was a social stigma for not displaying one, then they were mandatory.

~~~
ouid
What an asinine slippery slope. We don't even have mandatory vaccinations.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
I heard using smartwatches with the color coded sickness alert causes you to
pay too much attention to the smart watch, decreases social interaction, and
is a leading cause of autism.

