Heart health is something many people have to consider on a daily basis – for patients with a history of heart disease or with heart-related health problems every month is heart month. However, for many of us, February—or Heart Month in North America—is a time when we take stock of our cardiovascular health and stop to consider the changes we can make to improve the state of our heart health.
If you’re one of the many people looking for new ways to improve your overall heart health—perhaps for the first time—Skiin™ is the perfect solution. Using Myant’s Textile Computing™ platform, Skiin gives wearers new tools to monitor and improve their heart health.
Here are four ways Skiin can help you begin your journey toward improved cardiovascular health:
1. Track Your Activity Levels
Exercise plays a vital role in maintaining good cardiovascular health.¹ Regular physical activity can help reduce body weight, blood pressure, bad (LDL and total) cholesterol, and help increase good (HDL) cholesterol and insulin sensitivity—which are all contributing factors in lowering your risk for cardiovascular disease.² One of the best ways to increase the amount of exercise you perform each day is to monitor your activity levels using an activity tracking tool. By monitoring your activity levels and getting at least thirty minutes of daily physical activity, you can ensure your heart stays strong and healthy.
With Skiin, you can monitor your daily activity levels—namely your daily step count, distance travelled, and your posture breakdown (whether sitting, standing, running, walking, or lying down). Skiin helps you reach your activity goals by allowing you to set a daily steps goal, and also lets you set up an activity reminder at a set time on whatever days of the week you choose.
In general, it’s recommended that take 10,000 steps or more each day to maintain an active lifestyle, but it may vary depending on your personal baseline.³ Once you have determined your personal baseline and want to improve your daily physical activity, it is recommended to start increasing your daily step count by 1000 to 3000 steps. Daily step standards for adults are as follows:
- Sedentary lifestyle: less than 5,000 steps per day
- Low physical activity: 5,000-7,4999 steps per day
- Somewhat physically active: 7,500-9,999 steps per day
- Active: >10,000 steps per day
- Very active: >12,500 steps per day
2. Share Your ECG With a Cardiologist Remotely
If you have heart disease, risk factors for heart disease (such as obesity, family history, or others), or are otherwise concerned about your cardiovascular health, one way to ensure your heart is in good shape is to have a cardiologist regularly review your electrocardiogram (ECG).⁴ An ECG is a simple test that measures the electrical activity of the heart that can provide your doctor with valuable information about your cardiovascular health.
An ECG can detect abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, which can indicate the presence of a heart condition such as atrial fibrillation. If left untreated, conditions such as these can increase the risk of stroke and other serious complications. Regular ECG monitoring can help detect changes in the heart’s function early on, enabling your cardiologist to make decisions about your treatment and disease management plans. This can ultimately help to prevent serious complications from heart disease and improve your overall cardiovascular health.
Using Skiin garments and the Skiin Connected Life App, you can record ECG throughout the day and share it with your cardiologist remotely. In order to share your ECG data with your cardiologist remotely, all you need to do is log a symptom in the Skiin Connected Life App’s Diary section. Whenever you create a symptom log/entry, your cardiologist will receive a snapshot of your heart health from when it was sent – including ECG, heart rate, body temperature, activity levels, and any noted symptoms.
Our Skiin line of garments features electrodes knitted into everyday garments that allow for the collection of ambulatory ECG, along with other health metrics (posture, steps, body temperature, and more). Skiin garments are licensed Class II medical devices in Canada and collect clinical-grade data which can inform diagnosis and treatment plans.
Unlike other ECG monitoring systems, Skiin uses textiles instead of uncomfortable and impractical adhesive gel electrodes. Skiin collects 3-leads (assessment of your heart from three angles) of ECG, which is useful for monitoring and informing decisions about your health. However, in some cases, your doctor might ask you to complete a clinical ECG in a doctor’s office or lab environment to fully diagnose a heart condition.
3. Share Your Data With Your Loved Ones
Our families are important to us. Some studies suggest that they may be important in improving our health outcomes as well. In fact, our families may be vital to the health of our communities overall.⁵ It makes sense when you stop to think about it: when people involve their families in their care and treatment plans it lessens the burden on that individual and spreads the load across their family.
When you give your family access to your health data they can gain a better understanding of the burden you carry, which in turn enables them to better support you on your healthcare journey. Sharing your health data with your loved ones also helps them to be more involved in your care and treatment plans.⁶ For example, if you have a cardiovascular condition and you share your heart rate, symptoms, and other key health data with your child, they may be able to attend your next cardiologist appointment with you and explain what you’ve been going through.
The Skiin Connected Life App’s community feature is the perfect solution to increase your family’s involvement in your care. By sharing your health data with them remotely, you can ease your worries and reduce some of the stress your loved ones may face when worrying about your health. The Community feature lets you share as much or as little data as you choose— including your heart health, activity levels, location, and other key vitals.
4. Track Your Symptoms
Maintaining good cardiovascular health is critical to your overall health and wellness and tracking your heart-related symptoms is key to identifying patterns and trends in your cardiovascular health. For example, you may notice your symptoms tend to get worse during or after certain activities or at certain times of the day. Tracking your symptoms can also help you to communicate more effectively with your cardiologist or general practitioner. When you have health concerns it can sometimes be difficult or straining to remember all your symptoms, when they occurred, their intensity, etc.
The Skiin Connected Life App’s Diary feature is the perfect way to give you and your healthcare providers a better picture of your overall health and wellness. When you create a symptom log you can easily add symptoms, show when they occurred, and add any additional details. If you’re connected to a partnered cardiology clinic in the Skiin app, every time you add a symptom log it gets shared remotely with your cardiologist along with your time-related ECG and other health data from when the symptoms occurred.
Tracking your heart-related symptoms using Skiin’s symptom-tracking tools can help you and your cardiologist identify patterns in your cardiovascular health, lets you communicate with them and other healthcare providers more effectively, and empowers you to take control of your health.
Connected, Empowered, Informed, and Engaged
Skiin is a vital tool that can be used to improve your overall cardiovascular health and wellness. By enabling you to track your activity levels, send your ECG to a cardiologist remotely, share your key health data with your loved ones, and keep detailed logs of your symptoms, you are given the tools to work towards improving your heart health. Skiin allows you to stay in control of your health and ensure you’re doing everything you can to keep your heart healthy and strong.
To get started on your Skiin journey, visit myanthealth.com/collections and use code INSKIIN before checkout.
- Pinckard K, Baskin KK, Stanford KI. Effects of Exercise to Improve Cardiovascular Health. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2019 Jun 4;6:69. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2019.00069. PMID: 31214598; PMCID: PMC6557987.
- Myers, J. (2003b). Exercise and Cardiovascular Health. Circulation, 107(1). https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.0000048890.59383.8d
- 10,000 steps a day: Too low? Too high? (2020, March 23). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/10000-steps/art-20317391
- Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) – Mayo Clinic. (2022, March 19). https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/ekg/about/pac-20384983
- Barnes MD, Hanson CL, Novilla LB, Magnusson BM, Crandall AC, Bradford G. Family-Centered Health Promotion: Perspectives for Engaging Families and Achieving Better Health Outcomes. Inquiry. 2020 Jan-Dec;57:46958020923537. doi: 10.1177/0046958020923537. PMID: 32500768; PMCID: PMC7278332.
- News Detail. (2020, April 20). Default. https://www.cfhi-fcass.ca/about/news-and-stories/news-detail/2020/04/20/family-caregivers-as-essential-partners-in-care-more-than-just-a-visitor#:~:text=The%20evidence%20is%20clear%20that,patient%20experience%2C%20safety%20and%20outcomes
