Various things - potentially masked by a sizeable drop in cardio exercise - have me a little concerned about my respiratory system, so, looking to at least gather some data to see if my lungs are indeed working as they should.
Any recommendations for an affordable spO2 device?
Is a cheap smart band type thing as useful as a bell and whistlers smart watch where I won't use all the functionality?
I guess great if it links in with strava
any 20 quid finger device will tell you if you about to die, but not much more. They are only accurate to about 2%, and given the window for normal o2 level is only 5%, you can do the math
Wrist ones like on my garmin are even less accurate
And that’s only if you’re white. During COVID it was discovered that with brown and black skin they could be giving completely wrong readings, basically saying your SPO2 was good when in actual fact it was significantly below healthy levels. It’s thought to be one of (not the only one) the factors as to why BAME patients had poorer outcomes.
Xiaomi Mi Band 7 seems to get good reviews. Looks like it'll also sync with Strava
At under £40, it might be worth a look.
Various things – potentially masked by a sizeable drop in cardio exercise – have me a little concerned about my respiratory system, so, looking to at least gather some data to see if my lungs are indeed working as they should.
If you've got symptoms which you think may be due to, or causing, low blood oxygen levels - dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heartrate during exercise etc, you should be seeing a doc anyway, TBH.
Home pulse oximetry is useful for monitoring in acute situations - eg the classic 'When to hospitalise with Covid' but is not really a reliable way to look at lung function generally. I've read that the home versions can have accuracy issues during exercise, for example.
Have you had covid in the past 12 months, out of interest?
It’s been touched on already but, basically the consumer devices are not that reliable. If they tell you you’re about to keel over but you feel fine you’ll ignore them. The opposite case is the problem: you feel shoddy but they tell you you’re fine so you don’t go and bother the GP. Bad outcome.
Go see the doc.