Blood stress might not be a metric you’re overly involved about. Nevertheless, worldwide, hypertension is without doubt one of the largest causes of sick well being, immediately resulting in coronary heart illness, stroke, kidney illness and dementia. Biking can decrease your blood stress, so monitoring it ought to be of curiosity to anybody who cycles for well being in addition to health.
The Garmin Index BPM (blood stress monitor) is a tool that sits on the intersection of wellness and health industries, one thing we’re prone to see extra of sooner or later.
Design
The Garmin Index BPM is a compact, all-in-one unit, however it may be tough to get an excellent match.
(Picture credit score: Future/Rachel Sokal)
A standard dwelling blood stress monitor consists of a show and pump unit which is related to an arm cuff by a versatile hose. The Garmin Index BPM is one of some newer displays which have a one-piece design the place the pump unit is related on to the cuff. This permits the general package deal to be an excellent quantity smaller, leaving extra space in your bedside drawer for all of your different gubbins.
To quantify, the Garmin weighs 340g and measures roughly 8 x 8 x 15 cm (as examined). As compared, my 10-year-old Boots / Omron monitor weighs 450g and is roughly 15 x 12 x 10cm all packaged up.
Curiously the Garmin doesn’t have an built-in rechargeable battery however depends on 4 AAAs. Given the trendy design, this appears barely curious and a wasted alternative for a smaller and lighter unit. Claimed battery life is “as much as 9 months” albeit with out a sign of precise utilization in that point. I’ve had no points with battery life throughout 4 months of testing.
Becoming
The Garmin cuff is appropriate for arms from 22 – 42cm in diameter, however its becoming is unnecessarily tough. And if it’s not fitted correctly, you gained’t get an correct studying.
Firstly, because the monitor is mounted immediately onto the cuff, it’s awkward to suit because it’s tough to each stabilise the unit and tighten the cuff on the identical time. Maybe it’s a matter of debate as to how vital that is; for those who worth the extra compact design of the cuff-mounted design chances are you’ll settle for this draw back. For those who settle for {that a} blood stress monitor is comparatively cumbersome regardless, then you definitely’ll seemingly discover it extra annoying.
No matter what you consider the cuff-mounted strategy, its drawback is exacerbated by the design of the cuff itself. The fabric is sort of stiff in comparison with a conventional cuff and in addition solely has panels of Velcro – reasonably than a steady strip – so you must be extra exact as you might be pulling the cuff closed. In our testing, this appeared to be a problem on larger and smaller arms alike.
Accuracy
It’s nicely established that blood stress readings, even these which can be precisely taken, differ tremendously. For this reason NHS steerage recommends taking a median of three readings at one time and monitoring your blood stress over days and weeks reasonably than counting on a single worth.
With all that in thoughts – assuming you’ve bought the BPM cuff fitted appropriately – the accuracy of the Garmin Index BPM appeared each dependable and legitimate for coronary heart charge and BP readings throughout our testing.
To measure this, I in contrast measurements from my Omron machine (British & Irish Hypertension Society verified and authorized) and the Garmin Index BPM. With a monitor on every arm, I concurrently took a number of back-to-back readings, one or two instances a day for a number of weeks. There have been no constant excessive or low discrepancies between the displays in both diastolic or systolic measurements with readings various by not more than 2mmHg for every. Coronary heart charge was inside one beat per minute for every studying.
For those who don’t have the cuff correctly mounted readings are usually considerably off (sometimes decrease by greater than 20mmHg) so it’s pretty apparent one thing is awry.
Connectivity
Connecting the blood stress monitor to Garmin Join appeared slightly bit extra simple and extra dependable than my watch or head unit. Helpfully, you possibly can program as much as 16 completely different customers on a single BPM, all synced to separate Join accounts, one thing that isn’t attainable on different units you may share reminiscent of head items.
As soon as related, the BPM robotically uploads every of your readings into your Garmin Join dataset. In Garmin Join you possibly can set your individual parameters (e.g. management targets) after which monitor your stress knowledge over time, similar to some other well being and health metrics your units document.
It’s also attainable to manually document blood stress knowledge into Garmin Join you probably have taken readings on different units.
Worth and general
The Garmin Index BPM could also be engaging to present Garmin customers, however there are different, cheaper alternate options
(Picture credit score: Future/Rachel Sokal)
At £159.99 the Garmin Index BPM is a big funding significantly as there are lots of, independently validated, blood stress displays accessible for £30-50.
After all, the Index BPM has the benefit of an automated, wi-fi connection to your Garmin Join account, saving you the trouble of manually recording your readings. On the draw back, not solely is it far more costly, however its extra compact design makes it a lot more durable to suit onto your arm and take your recordings.
