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What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

blogs.wsj.com

11–20 of 28 posts

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#11
post #2

Hey HN! I'm not the OP, but I am the burrito-eating, Game of Thrones watching researcher mentioned in the article. This story focuses on a fun application of the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, but there's a lot we can learn about the human body through this type of data. For example, on the super burrito causing my heart rate to spike to 123bpm, there's very sparse medical literature on what this means. First off,…

Would you consider adding a fitbit integration as well? I think many more people own a fitbit charge hr (which has a heart rate monitor).

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#12
post #11
post #2

Hey HN! I'm not the OP, but I am the burrito-eating, Game of Thrones watching researcher mentioned in the article. This story focuses on a fun application of the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, but there's a lot we can learn about the human body through this type of data. For example, on the super burrito causing my heart rate to spike to 123bpm, there's very sparse medical literature on what this means. First off,…

Would you consider adding a fitbit integration as well? I think many more people own a fitbit charge hr (which has a heart rate monitor).

I'd love to show Fitbit data! If they reverse their decision not to integrate with HealthKit, then I think we'll be able to integrate without too much trouble: http://www.cnet.com/news/dont-expect-fitbit-to-integrate-wit...

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#13
post #2

Hey HN! I'm not the OP, but I am the burrito-eating, Game of Thrones watching researcher mentioned in the article. This story focuses on a fun application of the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, but there's a lot we can learn about the human body through this type of data. For example, on the super burrito causing my heart rate to spike to 123bpm, there's very sparse medical literature on what this means. First off,…

I thought I read somewhere that the heart rate goes up after eating due to the stomach requiring more blood to digest. I also read that foods that cause blood sugar to rise quickly will also cause the heart rate to rise. Does this sound like it makes sense?

Also, would a super burrito contain enough minerals to affect cardiac action potential?

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#14
post #3
post #2

Hey HN! I'm not the OP, but I am the burrito-eating, Game of Thrones watching researcher mentioned in the article. This story focuses on a fun application of the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, but there's a lot we can learn about the human body through this type of data. For example, on the super burrito causing my heart rate to spike to 123bpm, there's very sparse medical literature on what this means. First off,…

Do you do any accounting or normalizing for clearly erroneous heart rate readings from the watch? Just anecdotally, the heart rate monitor seems to be wildly inaccurate at times. Over the course of a workout at the gym, my heart rate jumped to 170bpm while benching (probably close to correct), and dropped to 45bpm while deadlifting (definitely incorrect). My resting heart rate is ~55bpm. After a few days of seeing my…

You can try getting a tighter fit and see if that helps.

I've noticed with any consumer heart rate monitor, if the fit is not tight and the monitor moves even a little bit, the heart rate the monitor reports will be off. I'm assuming the same will apply to the Apple watch.

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#15
post #5

Just realized this trend of examining people watching TV (then creating blogs and articles about it) is the ultimate point of the narcissistic tendency of our society (right next to the selfie). Now, the show isn't the show itself, but our reaction to it. I've got an idea, why don't you monitor my heart rate while i'm reading this article about monitoring people's heart rate ? Then you could post something about it.…

You're like a far less intriguing Guy Debord.

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#16
post #2

Hey HN! I'm not the OP, but I am the burrito-eating, Game of Thrones watching researcher mentioned in the article. This story focuses on a fun application of the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, but there's a lot we can learn about the human body through this type of data. For example, on the super burrito causing my heart rate to spike to 123bpm, there's very sparse medical literature on what this means. First off,…

I don't get this. Sure the watch makes it easy to collect your heart rate date, but where is the data on whether they are eating a burrito or watching game of thrones going to come from?

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#17
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you do any accounting or normalizing for clearly erroneous heart rate readings from the watch? Just anecdotally, the heart rate monitor seems to be wildly inaccurate at times. Over the course of a workout at the gym, my heart rate jumped to 170bpm while benching (probably close to correct), and dropped to 45bpm while deadlifting (definitely incorrect). My resting heart rate is ~55bpm. After a few days of seeing my…

You can try getting a tighter fit and see if that helps. I've noticed with any consumer heart rate monitor, if the fit is not tight and the monitor moves even a little bit, the heart rate the monitor reports will be off. I'm assuming the same will apply to the Apple watch.

That's good advice. When I had a Moto 360, I also sometimes did the opposite: loosen the strap one notch, and slide it up my arm slightly till it was taught again. Your forearm is a slightly easier place to measure pulse than on a bony wrist.

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#18
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any thoughts on privacy concerns with collecting this data? Do you think it should have the same requirements as regular patient medical data (eg HIPAA), or should it be treated differently?

I think the intent of HIPAA is good, but in practice, it's a big barrier to a lot of medical advancements. It's less the letter of the law itself, to be honest, and more the penumbra of fear that develops around any complex law. We saw the same thing on healthcare.gov. There was a great article about this a while ago, but I can't seem to find it now. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the approach the FDA and other regul…

Thanks for using the wonderfully evocative phrase "Penumbra of Fear". Googling the phrase led me to read "Terms of Service" (http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/terms-of-service), a great read.

And yes, as someone working in the highly regulated finance industry, I know from personal experience that complex laws directly create a penumbra of fear you can't ignore.

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#19
Oh man, I wish I had this heart rate data for when I was watching Homeland S03E12 for the first time. I distinctly remember that episode being an emotional roller coaster unlike pretty much anything else I've watched. I know my heart rate was really high at some point. I wouldn't be surprised if it was up in the 140-150 range. That show has an incredible ability build crazy amounts of tension. S01E11 was also off the charts.

Re: What ‘Game of Thrones’ Does to Your Heart Rate

#20
post #16
post #2

Hey HN! I'm not the OP, but I am the burrito-eating, Game of Thrones watching researcher mentioned in the article. This story focuses on a fun application of the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, but there's a lot we can learn about the human body through this type of data. For example, on the super burrito causing my heart rate to spike to 123bpm, there's very sparse medical literature on what this means. First off,…

I don't get this. Sure the watch makes it easy to collect your heart rate date, but where is the data on whether they are eating a burrito or watching game of thrones going to come from?

The app lets you add a title to each cardiogram, as well as optional annotations for particular moments.
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