Your doctor can help understand data from wearable devices: NPR

Millions of Americans are turning to smartwatches and smart rings to track everything from sleep to heart rate and body temperature. Wearable technology is now a predictable 100 billion dollar business. But it can be difficult to understand all the numbers coming from your wrist or finger.

Here’s how to get the most from your data, and how to have productive conversations with your doctor about what it means.

Sophie Krupp, who lives in Minneapolis, started wearing the Aura Ring several years ago to help control her migraines. She had an idea that her symptoms were connected to a bigger picture. “I felt like there were these patterns that were really related to my symptoms,” she says, “but I didn’t know how to connect them.”

Once he started tracking his data, he started making connections. The quality of her sleep seemed to be linked to migraine outbreaks. Small temperature changes associated with her hormonal cycle were also a factor, which was a significant eye-opener and the most consequential factor in connecting the dots. Even the occasional drink made a difference. “It was very clear what a big impact small changes in behavior can make,” she says.

This kind of self-knowledge comes best from wearables, and it’s a good starting point for any conversation with your doctor.

data with reference

Dr. Lucy McBrideA physician and author in Washington, DC beyond prescription, says arriving at an appointment with your health care provider with weeks of raw data and no context isn’t helpful. Her advice: “Report patterns, not just one data point,” she says. “For example, a week of disrupted sleep after a major life stressor tells a story. A bad day does not,” she says, “so it’s important to connect the data to your life.”

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“Data without context is just noise,” says McBride. If you were battling a cold, going through a stressful week at work or training for a race, an increase in your resting heart rate means something different.

When patients bring in wearable data, it can help a health care provider see how you’re presenting during an office visit, it says. Dr. Sara BenishA neurologist at M Health Fairview in Minnesota. Benish is the author of new informal guidance From the American Academy of Neurology on wearables. “If one of our patients brings in data from a wearable device, that expands how much information we can see,” she says, “and potentially helps doctors do their job better.” “It helps us understand what they’re going through with their symptoms and helps us decide on next steps for testing or treatment.”

For Krupp, wearable data could help predict when a migraine might flare up, giving him a window to intervene and take his medication before symptoms escalate. And now that she better understands the connection with hormones, she can pay closer attention to the changes associated with her menstrual cycle. So, the data helped her make the connection, and now she can intuitively pay more attention to what her body is telling her.

Wearable devices can indicate some serious conditions. One of the most impactful things the wearable can do is detect cardiac arrhythmias, which is an irregular heart rhythm that can increase the risk of having a serious medical event. “Smartwatches can provide information that the heart rhythm is becoming irregular,” says Dr. Benish. “This may be a sign of an underlying heart condition that puts people at risk for having a stroke,” or other types of cardiovascular events.

Dr. McBride had a patient whose Apple Watch flagged a dangerously low heart rate during sleep. That data led him to a cardiologist and ultimately to get a pacemaker. “That was potentially a lifesaver,” she says.

Here are 4 more tips to help:

1. Know how your device works

Whether it’s a Fitbit, Garmin, Ora Ring, Whoop Band, or Apple Watch, these devices are sophisticated computers attached to your body! It is important to take the time to become familiar with how the device works. When a new software update is released, it may affect or change the way the device tracks or displays data, so stay aware of the technology if you want to get the most out of it. Keep in mind that your doctor may not be familiar with your particular wearable device, so it may take some time for both of you to analyze the data, given that each device reports and analyzes slightly differently. “What I ask of my patients is a little grace in understanding what that data means,” says Benish.

2. Ask questions

Just as your doctor will want to hear the context of your life and gather more information about lifestyle, you are also part of the back-and-forth. This involves asking them about things you don’t understand or need more information about. For example, “My heart rate variability is decreasing. Is this something we should look into, or is this normal?” Or “According to my device, I’m getting an average of six hours of sleep, but I’m in bed eight hours, so what’s the potential disconnect?

3. Is too much data worrying you?

Finding the right spot between useful information and data overload can be difficult. Some people like to know all the numbers. For example, if you frequently wake up or toss and turn at 2 a.m., and you’re worried about lost sleep, it may be reassuring to see in the data the next morning that you actually slept more than you thought. But for some people the data is overwhelming. “This causes them anxiety, which can have a significant negative impact on their health,” says Benish. So if you think you fall into this camp, step back from how much data you’re taking in and have a conversation with your health care provider.

4. Don’t let your data dominate your story

Not everything that is important to our health can be measured with wearable technology. “The most important health data still resides in your biography, your story, your stress, food, alcohol, your relationship with your mother,” says McBride. “Wearable technology over-indexes on data that is measurable, when in reality health is largely informed by data that we cannot measure in any single device.”

Your numbers matter. But your story is also similar. Bring both to your next appointment.