Welcome to "Wesknows" a channel about health and fitness! Today we'll talk
about pulse oximeters or oxygen saturation level monitors. We'll tell you
why we need them, how to use them and how to interpret their values. Just before we
get into it though, we have placed timestamps in the
description below the video. So if you want to skip through to any
part of the video, feel free to do that! Health awareness is more and more in
focus, so it happens that many people want to control their vital signs at
home. oxygen saturation levels can forewarn of chronic lung diseases, asthma,
or sleep apnea syndrome. especially with the shortness of breath and general
respiratory limitations experienced from flu, monitoring spo2
is crucial. a pulse oximeter is a device that allows you to measure the oxygen
saturation of arterial blood without the need for arterial blood sampling. all
this sounds very complicated Basically these small devices show you, in addition
to the current pulse rate, the oxygen saturation of the blood. Why is this so
important in terms of the flu outbreak? Well the best way to determine
how well the lungs are functioning and measurement of systemic oxygen delivery
to tissues is by using the oxygen saturation measurement. keep watching and
we'll show you how spo2 was measured before the pulse oximeters
were freely available to the masses. we will explain how the pulse oximeter
works and what it actually measures. we tested two pulse oximeters against one
another. A branded one versus a generic brand device.
the pulse oximeter has to be placed on the correct finger to provide accurate
results but which one? how to prepare your finger for those accurate reading?
keep watching - will tell you all about it! we went the extra step and brought in
some fitness trackers and will prove that fitness trackers monitor your spo2
just as accurately as the finger pulse oximeters!'
let's look at how spo2 is measured. before the pulse oximeters were freely
available, the spo2 measurement as we know it is done by a pulse oximeter or a
fitness tracker but it was previously accomplished by a very complicated
procedure. Namely arterial blood gas analysis, it was generally performed in
the hospital with a nurse taking blood from your wrist and the blood sample
then was further analyzed. now the drawback here is that the process was
painful, not cheap, and quite lengthy. One sample was rarely enough. Let's discuss
how the pulse oximeter works and what it actually measures? A "Pulse Oximeter" uses
leds emitting both red and infrared light. A photodetector is positioned on
the other side of the finger, opposite the LEDs and detects the amount of light,
whether it is red or infrared light, passing through the measurement site. The
amount of light absorbed depends on how much oxygen the hemoglobin in your blood
is carrying. Let's pretend these red shapes are hemoglobin and as we all know
hemoglobin is a package of red blood cells and it has a key function of
transporting oxygen to the body tissues. the test relies on the fact that
oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin absorb different wavelengths of light.
the oximeter then displays your spo2 level, the values range from 35 to 99%.
Generally a value over 93% is satisfactory.
As we mentioned earlier, we tested two pulse oximeters against one another, we
have brought two of these devices to the test today. The white one produced by AFAC
cost us £30 and the black generic branded oximeter just £15
from Amazon. They both have very similar dimensions at 55 by 32 by 30mm.
And they weigh just over 50 grams, including the batteries. both
are powered by two triple A batteries AFAC had provided the batteries in the
box while the generic pulse oximeter did not. The battery compartment is located on
the bottom of these devices so you can easily insert or change the batteries.
it's a simple one-button interface with a large display on top of the device
that provides two sets of values. Your pulse rate and spo2 level. Both devices
feature a battery saving, automatic switch off function and most of these
pulse oximeters out in the market do exactly the same thing. Now in order for the
pulse oximeter to give you accurate results you have to prepare your finger,
as well as know which finger to put it on. There are a number of rules here and
as numerous studies have shown, one of these rules can be overlooked by up to
80% of health care workers. As the studies have shown most health care
workers select your index finger for spo2 measurement but it has been proven
that the most accurate value is given by using the middle finger, secondary by
accuracy is your thump. Another key point to remember is to use the middle finger
on your dominant hand! So if you're right-handed, place the pulse oximeter on
the middle finger of your right hand. Also because the oximeter's operating
principle is light absorption, make sure that the nail in your finger does not
have any nail polish, as this may obscure the reliability of the reading.
As this test will show fitness trackers monitor your spo2 just as accurately as
finger pulse oximeters. A number of people have asked us about the heart
rate and spo2 readings accuracy on smartwatches and fitness trackers hence
we brought some along for the purpose of this review. the "SpO2" level recorded by
"Senbono S02" was fluctuating between 98 and 99%
and the same level was recorded by the latest watch from "Honor", Honor
magic watch 2 which costs over £150. In fact the medical grade finger
pulse oximeter also showed SpO2 at 98 and 99%. Let's see how the heart rate
monitor works and once again the Senbono S02 held its own by matching the magic watch 2
and the finger "pulse oxygen monitor". These results point us to the conclusion that
fitness trackers provide as much value and in many cases more so, than the
standalone finger pulse oximeters. Also we have seen so many reviews showing
very expensive pulse oximeters, the ones that connect to APPs, ones with larger
screens, extravagant designs, etc. Quite frankly we don't think you need to
overspend on these because at the end of the day all you need is to have accurate
values at arm's reach. If you have enjoyed watching our video
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more honest reviews!