Health

Apple's WWDC 2021 keynote highlighted an important and oft-missed point about the health care industry: whether you're caring for yourself or for family members, health monitoring can be a hassle, and it's difficult to remember health history and details by the time you're in the doctor's office. With improvements set to roll out with the fall 2021 release of iOS 15, Apple is aiming to change that. 

Your Apple Watch has a Handwashing timer to remind you to wash for 20 seconds, but sometimes your watch may not correctly track your time. If you're worried about having an accurate average handwashing time, you can keep your clean streak going by entering it into the Health app manually.

The Blood Oxygen app for the Apple Watch Series 6 is a timely and important update in our COVID-affected world, but it's not obvious how to set up the Blood Oxygen app the first time you use it. We'll show you how to set up your Apple Watch oxygen monitor, plus we'll help you understand the basics of how to read your results so that you can monitor your oxygen saturation levels.

The iOS 14 Sleep tool in the Apple Health app is one of the many features Apple is offering to improve your health. You can set a bedtime, complete with a Wind Down Mode and Do Not Disturb, so your phone isn't buzzing or pinging with notifications while you try to sleep. And if you have an Apple Watch you can track your sleep. While this is a very helpful feature to those trying to get more serious about catching Z's, not every wants to go to bed at the exact same time every night of the week. A weekend or a regular early morning might lead you to need the option for different routines depending on the day of the week, so here is how to set up multiple bedtimes in the Sleep section of the Health app.

The Noise app on your Apple Watch is there to help protect your hearing against harmful decibels, but to get the notifications, you’ll need to enable the app. With the Noise app, you can set the decibel at which you want to be notified and set how you receive the notifications. Let’s dive in with how to protect your ears with the Noise app.

Apple's Health app can tell you how many flights of stairs you've climbed or steps you've taken, your cycling distance, calories, weight, and, starting with iOS 13, how often your headphones were too loud. Sorting through all that data could be daunting, but the Summary tab can be customized to show only what you want to see: simply go open the Health app, tap the Summary tab, tap Edit in the top right corner, and then select the kinds of data you want to see in your summary. More health minded? With a HealthKit accessory, you can track your resting heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. Looking to focus on nutrition? The Health app can show your nutrients including sodium, fat, carbohydrates, and fiber. Choosing which of all these metrics to view is easy! Let me show you how.

All of us have had to plow through at least one difficult day of school or work after a less-than-optimal night of sleep, or even an all nighter. But what happens when a rough night becomes the norm? The Centers for Disease Control collects data about the sleep habits of Americans, and reports that one in three of us are getting fewer than the recommended seven hours of sleep per night. Whether you can't fall asleep, can't stay asleep, or both, insomnia is not only miserable, but bad for your health. I'm one of those insomniacs that can't stay asleep; waking up more nights than not after only about four hours of shut-eye, and not being able to drift off again for at least an hour or two. If you're like me, and have spent many wakeful hours wishing you could just relax and sleep, it's time to find some help. While relaxing bedtime routines, meditation for sleep, natural insomnia remedies, calming teas, and even sleeping pills can help, there's one more thing I think you should try: a sleep app for your iPhone! I tried Sleep Genius for two weeks, and am still using it every night. Sleep Genius is a sleep app that combines soothing sleep music, a gentle alarm, a relaxation program for anxiety at any time, and even a power nap feature! Read on to learn more about Sleep Genius, and why I think you should give this sleep app a home on your iPhone.

If you have an Apple Watch paired with your iPhone, you’re familiar with Activity rings. On the Apple Watch, your activity is represented by three concentric circles that track how much of your daily goals you have met. There’s a red circle for your Move goal, a green one for Exercise, and a blue one for Stand. However, you can also view these Activity rings in graph form in the Health app and include it as a part of your health Dashboard. Here’s how to view your activity rings in your health app dashboard.

Depending on which apps or devices you have collecting information, the Health app on your iPhone can track your body measurements, fitness, nutrition, reproductive health, sleep, and more. It’s a great way to get an overview of your activity level and health in general. I particularly like the calendar menu which allows me to select any day and see the stats organized below. Should you want to export your data from your Health app, whether it be to share with a personal trainer or your doctor, here’s how to do it.