Get the big picture of your health (part 2 of 4) – Strengthen your heart
How does one strengthen his heart? You might wonder because your doctor recently told you to be careful to prevent any cardiac fatigue, or because you need to lose quite a bit of weight but want to avoid cardiac complications, or because you just want to improve your athletic performance and endurance. Let's see how you can beef up your heart and assess your progress.
Want to have a strong heart?
When it comes down to self-tracking, blood pressure and the resting heart rate are very relevant body data to monitor.
- First of all, it tells you how well your heart – one of your vital organs – is doing.
- Secondly, by measuring it regularly at home you get more accurate readings as you avoid the white-coat effect (seeing the doctor often triggers a momentary systolic hypertension). This is an important information, as a misdiagnosed patient might end up taking medication he shouldn't take…
"Seeing the doctor often triggers a momentary systolic hypertension"
1. The first device that comes to mind
Now that you know self-tracking your BP is best, you may ask yourself "How can I track my blood pressure and my resting heart rate at home?". It is commonly accepted that the most accurate device you can use to self-measure your BP is the humeral sphygmomanometer cuff (better than wrist cuffs).
It's basically the same cuff doctors use with a stethoscope (auscultatory method), but with an added electronic pressure sensor. Of course this technique dating back to 1876 has since been updated.
The Withings Blood Pressure Monitor offers a 21st century version of this essential medical device. It puts BP self-tracking at hand, giving you the following body data:
- Systolic pressure (the physical force developed when the heart muscle is contracting),
- Diastolic pressure (the blood pressure occurring right after the contraction of the heart, while the heart's chambers refill),
- Heart rate (the number of heart beats per minute)
Your readings are conveniently sent to your Withings Health Cloud , stored depending on the time of the day and made readily available on the Withings Health Mate web dashboard , as well as on your smartphone and tablet.
If you set out to strengthen your heart your BP is going to be a good indicator, as well as your resting heart rate (over time) – but they won't tell you precisely how to achieve cardiovascular fitness .
What is a healthy fat mass percentage?
- For adults between 20 and 40 years old , a normal fat mass percentage ranges between 9 and 21% for men, and between 21 and 35% for women.
- For people between 41 and 60 years old , a normal fat mass percentage ranges between 11 and 23% for men, and between 22 and 36% for women.
- For adults between 61 and 80 years old , a normal fat mass percentage ranges between 12 and 25% for men, and between 23 and 37% for women.
What is a healthy resting heart rate?
- A resting heart rate of around 40-50 beats a minute is the sign of a very healthy and athletic heart.
- For adults the average healthy resting heart rate ranges from 60 to 100 .
- If you measure less than 60 BPM or more then 100 BPM at rest, on a regular basis, consult your doctor – you might suffer from (respectively) tachycardia or bradycardia .
Time to take action!
Once you start tracking this body data and decide to act upon it to have a positive impact on your heart's condition, you might want to loose some fat exercising and to eat less salt for example. To track these aspects of your lifestyle – indirectly related to your heart's health - you need something more than the Blood Pressure Monitor .
2. Two ideal complementary devices
Withings also offers 2 other connected devices that can measure your heart rate . Knowing that you are more likely to keep on tracking if the data is collected seamlessly, without changing your habits, the Withings Pulse and the Smart Body Analyzer might very well be relevant for you.
- The Withings Pulse lets you take your pulse whenever you want, in seconds. As you carry it around, you just need to whip it out anytime you want to measure your heart rate . Do it right after waking up and the Pulse will give you your resting heart rate.
The Pulse is more than a simple heart rate monitor, it's also a great activity tracker . You can take advantage of it to motivate yourself to get active and gradually increase your activity level . And as we all know, exercising is a good way to strengthen you heart.
- The Smart Body Analyzer (also known as the WS-50 ) is a body scale, but not only. Our new flagship smart scale is indeed the most advanced of its kind. Of course it measures your weight (and body composition), but it also monitors indoor air quality and on top of that, it's the first ever scale to measure your heart rate through your feet.
"It's the first ever scale to measure your heart rate through your feet"
Step on the WS-50 from time to time, in the morning, right after waking up. This will automatically shape a "resting heart rate" graph giving you some insight on your heart's strength and some feedback about the efficiency of your efforts.
You can also look at the evolution of your body composition (the "fat mass / lean mass" ratio) to assess if your are getting healthier .
3. A partner apps to complete your heart's fitness tracking
Pick Digifit's iCardio (one of our partner apps) to track your "multi-sport heart rate monitor training" . Among other things it offers voice feedback, customizable splits, in-workout pictures. Beyond regular 
cardio training, iCardio also tracks "elliptical, rowing, Spin and other cardio exercises, indoors or out" .
The iCardio app lets you track your weight and blood pressure (automatically synced from your Withings account), as well and sleep information "for a true sense of overall health" .
What do the lack of activity and of sleep have in common? They are both bad for your health. This goes to show that you have to act on several aspects of your lifestyle to dodge avoidable chronic diseases and stay healthy. Living well is an everyday matter. How many steps do you you walk (or run) each day? Knowing this will help you realize how active you really are. Then you can set out to reach the World Health's Organization activity level recommendations. Let's take a look at the ways you can set out to get healthier, from the most simple approach to the most complete solution.
Want to live healthy?
1. The first device that comes to mind
Get an activity tracker ! Pedometers have been around for a very long time, but you now have smart trackers like the Withings Pulse who do wonders when it comes to measuring your activity level 24/7.
Drop the Pulse in your pocket (by the way its official hashtag is #TakeYourPulse ), let it follow you through your day. It will count each of your steps so precisely that it even recognizes steps going upstairs !
The Word Health Organization recommends 10,000 steps per day . With your Withings Pulse you see exactly where you stand, giving you the opportunity to react.
All your data is made readily available in the free Health Mate mobile app and monitor your progress on your smartphone or tablet. Further your analysis with the Health Mate web dashboard gives you even more insights.
Need extra steps today to reach the 10,000 threshold?
- Why not park the car further from home, and finish walking?
- Or maybe you could fit in an active session in your day – practicing your favorite sport or going for an after-dinner walk?
- Knowing where you stand is empowering . Use this power!
But wait. The Pulse doesn't just count steps. It tracks distance , elevation , and burned calories . And it also measures your instant heart rate . All of this can be helpful when you are trying to change your habits towards a healthier lifestyle.
2. Another device that makes sense
Get a blood pressure monitor . Blood pressure is one of the vital signs. Even more, it's one of the most relevant body data to track over time. The Withings Blood Pressure Monitor lets you do it in a breeze, automatically syncing all your data to your Withings Health Cloud . You can very easily share your readings with your doctor.
3. The ideal complementary device
The Smart Body Analyzer (aka WS-50) is "the one-stop health tracking scale" , meaning that when you step on it (preferably in the morning), you get way more than your weight. It also measures your body composition and your heart rate through your feet (this is a first time in a scale). To top it off, the WS-50 does continuous indoor air quality monitoring – but we will talk more about this in part 4 of this series of blog posts.
4. An app to complete your health-tracking solution
Why not go all the way and compare the numbers of calories you burn with your calorie intake ? Jointly monitoring activity and nutrition is the best way to get to a healthy weight. Balance your burned calories with the calories you ingest using the free MyFitnessPal app in conjunction with the free Withings Health Mate app. 
5. Check out some of our partner apps – they can help you become healthier
Take advantage of some of our +100 partner apps ! Connect your Withings account with RunKeeper (track your workouts and receive guidance from running experts), Fitboard (a workout/diet archiver), or FitTrend (a fitness journal) for example.
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