

Ask HN: Can we monitor our hearts rhythm with a simple bracelet? - samerbuna

A question for all of you hardware hackers out there, is it possible to have a simple bracelet to continuously monitor your heartbeat? something slim and wearable all day long (like the Fitbit flex for example).<p>I&#x27;ve seen a bracelet where you have to use both hands to get a heartbeat measurement, but I am looking for something that constantly measures the rate, monitors the rhythm, and detects any abnormalities.<p>I have proposed the idea on quirky.com&#x2F;invent&#x2F;677338 - with alernative things you can do with a smart bracelet - but I would love to hear some validation or invalidation about the heartbeat monitoring part of it.
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andor
It's possible to measure the heart rate optically at the wrist. A few consumer
products already exist:

For 24/7 monitoring: [http://www.mybasis.com/](http://www.mybasis.com/)

For sports: [http://www.mioglobal.com/](http://www.mioglobal.com/) and
[http://micoach.adidas.com/](http://micoach.adidas.com/)

The Basis comes quite close to what you suggest.

There's much more information in a heartbeat than just the rhythm [0]. I don't
know what exactly the Basis can record, and whether more information would be
useful for automatic diagnoses at all. For example, some Garmin and Suunto
watches also measure the time between heartbeats to estimate the "training
effect" of a workout. You should ask a cardiologist what kind of data is
required to detect certain abnormalities.

Also, you will probably get a lot of false positives. If you search for "heart
rate monitor spikes" you'll see what I mean.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_cycle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_cycle)

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samerbuna
The basis looks great. Thanks for the feedback. A friend pointed me to this
which sounds really like what I am after here,
[http://www.angelsensor.com/](http://www.angelsensor.com/)

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peachepe
Have you seen [https://grandst.com/p/pulse](https://grandst.com/p/pulse) ?

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samerbuna
That is cool, does it auto-read the heartbeat or do you need to use your other
hand?

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peachepe
I understand you just have to carry it on the wrist

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diorray
Why not? It's possible but i think that bracelet needs to put pressure on the
wrist

