Your smartwatch or bike computer to detect Covid

Whether in cycling, running, swimming, or many other disciplines, modern athletes have access to various technologies to help them improve, especially GPS watches or bike computers. What cyclist doesn’t have one of these devices today? It has become a faithful training companion. But beneath its plastic casing, this electronic gadget is much more than just an indicator of time, distance, or speed. It provides information we can’t even imagine… Your GPS watch or bike computer could indeed play a role in detecting certain illnesses like Covid-19.

By Jean-François Tatard – Photos: All rights reserved

The Garmin as an infection detector

In this regard, 3bikes.fr had an interesting experience this week. It highlighted our watch’s ability to detect changes in the heart rate variability of the same individual for a comparable effort. By cross-referencing algorithms and constants recorded over several years for the same subject, it analyzed the interval between two contractions in this situation.

How to interpret it?

High variability indicates an active nervous system and good health, while low variability, a sign of a constant interval between contractions, can mean that inflammation is developing.

Even though it was a fortuitous discovery, this marker allowed us to detect an infection even before the person felt its effects. To be precise, an anticipation of three days before testing positive for Covid. While it’s difficult to draw definitive conclusions, there’s room for further investigation to better utilize this device, which clearly isn’t just for chasing KOMs on Strava.

Moreover, other significant changes could be identified (physical condition, VO2, respiratory rate). And spontaneously, the watch thus suggested 38 hours of rest after a training session that usually requires between 8 and 15 hours, depending on when it’s placed in the week or season.

Once the diagnosis was confirmed by the watch wearer, their heart rate also showed a notable increase over a singular duration.

In conclusion

The idea here is to help our readers understand that it’s always possible to get even more out of our GPS watches. And even more so when worn throughout the day, 7 days a week. Because all the data collected by the watch allows for almost permanent monitoring that is more objective than any other diagnosis. The watch monitors breathing and is even capable of visibly detecting the onset of a fever to try to determine the virus’s action… We at 3bikes.fr know that we are only at the beginning, and to better structure the information given to the user, if the R&D departments of Garmin, Polar, or Suunto are reading this: perhaps an alarm system that takes these variations into account to prevent risks would be a major advance that would avoid many problems…

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