Apple Watch flashes red alert, saves woman's life whose heartbeat had later stopped for 19 secs while sleeping

Apple Watch has been a saviour for many people ever since the iPhone-maker launched the electrical heart sensor with the Series 4 model in 2018.

Recently, an England-based woman claimed her Apple Watch saved her life after it flashed a 'red alert' warning on the device.

Elaine Thompson faced a series of seizures in April 2018 and underwent treatment for epilepsy. When she got the recommended tests done, the results came back normal. But, she continued to suffer seizures and the doctors put her on medication to stop the episodes.


In February 2022, the 59-year-old's concerned daughter Ashleigh got her an Apple Watch. One day, when the mother-of-two woke up, she saw a 'red alert' warning flashing on her smartwatch. "When I woke up one day there was a red alert. It advised to see a doctor so I did and showed them the results the watch had recorded," Thompson told The Sun.

When her test results came back, the reports were normal, but the doctors put her on a waiting list to get a heart monitor. In November 2022, she finally got the heart monitor.

The monitor recorded her sleep pattern and daily movement. In January 2023, the shocking results showed that the monitor recorded no activity of the brain waves or heartbeat for 19 seconds. Now, she has a pacemaker for life.

"My daughter rang me and told me I needed to go into hospital urgently and the doctors were trying to get hold of me. I went in and they told me that my results showed I'd flatlined for 19 seconds. They told me it was an electrical fault with my heart and that I needed to be fitted with a pacemaker. I had it done the next day and now I have it for life. But it's a relief I went to get it looked at, otherwise, I might be dead," she told The Sun.

Crediting her Apple Watch for 'saving her life', Thompson told Manchester Evening News, "It saved my life. If I hadn’t had the alert I wouldn’t have brought it up with the doctor. Now I wear the Apple Watch all the time."

The Sun said that Thompson had an atrioventricular block - a heart block where the heart beats more slowly or with an abnormal rhythm.

Before Thompson, many people claimed that their Apple Watch saved their life. The smartwatches come with built-in electrodes that measure the electrical signals across the user's heart through the Heart Rate app or ECG app.

The ECG and heart monitor app is available in Apple Watch Series 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and Ultra. However, ECG isn't supported on Apple Watch SE.

Both irregular rhythm and heart rate notifications are available in India, but the atrial fibrillation monitor isn't. The watch can measure heart rate as long as there is skin contact. However, alerts for irregular rhythm are only available on devices that support watchOS 5.1.2 or higher updates.

Besides heart rate and irregular rhythm, Apple smartwatches also provide other features like wrist detection, haptic notifications and blood oxygen level measurements.

Want to check your heart rate on your iPhone and Apple Watch?

• Users can monitor their heart rate at any time. Here's what you need to do:
• Install the Heart Rate app
• Open the app & let Apple Watch measure your heart rate
• The app monitors other activities like - resting, walking, workout time, breathing session and recovery rates - throughout the day
• Turn on heart rate notifications to get alerts about low/high heart rate or irregular heart rhythm

To enable heart rate data:

• Open the Settings on Apple Watch
• Go to Privacy & Security
• Tap on Health
• Click on Heart Rate
• Turn on the Heart Rate

OR

• Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone
• Tap My Watch
• Click on Privacy
• Turn on the Heart Rate

To check the heart rate data graph:

• Open the Health app on your iPhone
• Tap Browse
• Tap Heart
• Click on an entry
• The heart data for the last hour, day, week, month or year will show

Do you have an Apple Watch experience you would like to share? Let us know in the Comments section.