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Comment by kshahkshah | Hacker News Reader

I'm in the market for a watch. Turned 41, my weight has slowly crept up despite working out 4-5 times a week - not too bad, like not obese. My cholesterol is bad partially due to genetics but mostly due to diet. I also have a mild sleep apnea, especially when my weight is high. I'm focusing on dropping weight this year and would love to start tracking sleep, recovery, apnea, and any heart issues before/as they happen. I do not want another screen though and though I've looked at the Apple watch multiple times, I've not actually purchased it yet.

I don't believe the Garmin tracks apnea signals or heart issues at all unfortunately

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It will alert you if your heart rate goes above a certain limit (that you've set) when you're not exercising. It tracks sleep too, but I don't know about sleep apnea signals. It does track pulse ox, so a low sleep quality report and low pulse ox might indicate sleep apnea? idk

I have an older relative who uses their Venu3 to take their own ECG and combine that with a Garmin Index BPM (~$150) to help monitor their heart function. The ECG is simple to use on the watch and the BPM syncs to Garmin Connect so that all that data is stored daily for their cardiac specialist to review when they go in for appointments. They had a diagnosis of A-Fib a while back that explained all their decrease in energy levels and since beginning treatment for it they have had no further issues. Now they have the ability to sit and take an ECG to transmit to their cardiologist if they start feeling bad. For them it provides peace of mind that their meds are working as designed. They regularly get in 5k - 10k steps daily which is pretty great for someone making a strong run at 90 y.o.

I don't think Garmin has a device that is able to track or identify sleep anea events but would not be surprised to see that functionality appear in the near future on some product.

I have an Instinct 2 Solar and it has been great for me. I told other relatives about it and they have picked their own models to suit their lifestyles.

I think that is Garmin's strength, the wide variety of fitness devices suited for almost any activity or personality.

I was in the same boat with genetics and cholesterol. It is all the diet. At some point I realized I had to stop eating cheese completely. No pizza, no nachos, no tacos with cheese. I can stay in good shape with a once a week cheat night but I don't have the genetics to deal with the cholesterol like that.

It sucked at first but the things I do enjoy now, I enjoy them just as much.

Consuming cholesterol, like in cheese, has little effect on serum cholesterol levels. Almost all of the cholesterol in your body is endogenously produced.

Also, wasn’t cholesterol that thing where there’s no actual scientifically proven “good” value but the margins were decided on assumptions (and to sell medication)?

That's true, but I think they were referring to the saturated fat in cheese/dairy which does affect cholesterol

Some models have an ECG monitoring app in some countries.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/health-scienc...

one thing my first garmin from 2016 did for me was to make me more active, because its activity nags with minimum-enforced active time ensured that I wouldn't just keep sitting all day. Their newer models track hrv and offer ecg in some models/countries to help with heart health tracking.

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