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Samsung’s Galaxy Watches have theoretically been able to measure your blood pressure for years. US users got access to the feature in a phased rollout, which eventually reached my device. I’ll show you how to set it up, which is more complicated than you might think, and then discuss what we know about its accuracy.
How to Enable Blood Pressure Reading on Your Galaxy Watch
I spent all last week checking for software updates on my phone, watch, and the App Store, but to no avail. Eventually I found a card in my Samsung Health app (with the blue and green icon of a person running) inviting me to “track my blood pressure.” This sent me to the App Store to download a new version of the Samsung Health Monitor app (the one with the pink heartbeat icon).
Besides a Samsung Galaxy phone and watch, you’ll need two things to set up blood pressure monitoring: access to a blood pressure cuff (a wrist cuff from the drugstore is fine) and a cellular network connection (No WiFi).
The mobile connection is so Samsung can check that you’re actually in a country where the company can legally offer blood pressure readings. This won’t be a problem for most of you, but my Samsung phone is a device I use exclusively for testing Samsung-related wearable devices, and so I’ve never connected it to any cellular network. My regular phone also doesn’t have a physical SIM card that can be easily replaced, but luckily I was able to find one to borrow for a few minutes. Once you’ve set up the app, you can disconnect from the cell network and the feature will continue to work.
A blood pressure cuff is needed to calibrate the watch’s readings. Once you’ve installed the Samsung Health Monitor app and told it you’re ready to calibrate, it will ask you to sit quietly and take three readings from the cuff. Before you start, the app warns you to avoid “exercise, bathing, alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine” for 30 minutes.
many things can happen Affect the accuracy of blood pressure readingsSo I already knew to sit with my legs crossed, bladder not full, and make sure to sit quietly for at least a few minutes before taking the readings. A screen that the Samsung app showed me after Calibrating said I had to sit with my hands on the table for five minutes before taking a reading.
Even if both readings are taken at the same time – the watch on one hand, your cuff on the other – you will have to sit quietly until the watch is finished. hang out after phlegm ends, but while the clock reading is still going on, the result may be zero requiring you to redo the clock reading. The app didn’t recommend a waiting period between readings, but some blood pressure guidelines mention that you should wait about two minutes between readings.
Where to get a blood pressure cuff
Accessing the blood pressure cuff is probably the most annoying part of the procedure for most people. You can use a blood pressure machine at a pharmacy, or ask a doctor (or say, a nurse friend who has a sphygmomanometer) to do the readings for you.
But if you’re interested in tracking your blood pressure, it’s probably best to get your own cuff. A basic wrist cuff It shouldn’t cost more than about $20-30 and you can pick it up on Amazon or at a pharmacy. I already had one of these, so I used that one.
Samsung recommends an arm cuff if possible, such as This $49 model. These are considered to be slightly more accurate than wrist cuffs. Both types will inflate themselves and take readings automatically, so you won’t need any special expertise to operate them, nor any help taking readings while keeping an eye on your phone and watch.
What do you think so far?
Are the readings accurate?
While the blood pressure feature is new in the US, it has been available in Europe and South Korea since around 2020. That’s enough time for several studies to have been conducted on Samsung’s technology. (It takes time to collect and publish data, so the latest Galaxy Watch models are not yet presented in the literature – but older Galaxy Watch models are.)
This Korean study is from 2022 It concluded that the Galaxy Watch blood pressure technology has a “systematic bias” towards calibration readings. This means it will underestimate high blood pressure and overestimate low blood pressure. This is the same phenomenon I’ve seen Whoop MG users complain about – they say the device reports blood pressure numbers that are identical to their last measurement that was taken without the device. At that point, is the device actually adding anything?
The Korean Society for Hypertension issued a position paper With recommendations for consumer blood pressure technology in 2021. For smartwatches, it recommends faithfully following the instructions for readings, which are a little more detailed than those outlined above – check the paper yourself for the society’s full recommendations. It also notes that there may be a difference of a few points between your right and left arms.
But more importantly, society recommended it against Using a smartwatch to measure blood pressure for those who are pregnant or suffering from a variety of health conditions, or taking certain medications. Blood vessels change during pregnancy in such a way that smartwatch-based sensors can be confused. Other health conditions and medications mentioned are: “aortic valve insufficiency with wide pulse pressure, atrial fibrillation with considerable beat-to-beat variability, peripheral vascular disease with poor perfusion, diabetes, cardiomyopathy, ESRD, neurological disorders such as hand tremors, blood clotting disorders, or taking antiplatelet agents/anticoagulants.”
The society also said that smartwatch blood pressure readings are not reliable for pressures below 60 mmHg or systolic (top number) pressures above 160 mmHg, and may not be reliable enough for people who already have high blood pressure and need to monitor it. But after all those warnings, they speak favorably about the idea that people who want to measure their blood pressure with a watch should at least Thinking About their blood pressure, and people who have high blood pressure may have it diagnosed earlier because they are getting it checked regularly.
