Like traditional heart rate monitors, strapless heart rate monitors measure your heart rate during physical exercise. They are called strapless monitors because there is no chest strap that directly picks up signals from your heart. Instead, these monitors pick up the pulse of blood flow from your fingers. Strapless monitors have become increasingly popular among gym enthusiasts and people who enjoy outdoor recreational exercise. Professional athletes and athletes with rigorous training routines, though, typically opt for the traditional models.
Traditional Monitors
Unlike strapless heart rate monitors, traditional heart rate monitors measure your heartbeat via a chest strap, then transmit the information to a monitor on your wrist. The monitor interprets the information and displays how fast your heart is beating. According to Don McKenzie, professor of exercise science at the University of British Columbia, when the chest strap is appropriately fastened to the skin, traditional heart rate monitors are highly reliable. They can, however, make inaccurate measurements if good skin contact is lacking. It's best to use any of the special gels available to ensure good contact.
Types of Strapless Monitors
The most popular strapless heart rate monitors look like wristwatches and only measure your heart rate when you place your fingers on the sensors on the monitor. Other strapless monitors can be held in your hand or attached to your finger or upper arm. Strapless heart monitors that attach to your finger continuously measure your heart rate.
How Strapless Heart Rate Monitors Work
When compared to traditional heart rate monitors, the new strapless heart rate monitors have the advantage because they work without a chest strap. They are thus more comfortable to wear than traditional monitors, explains health journalist Roy M. Wallack of the "Los Angeles Times." To get a heart reading on a wrist monitor, you must place your fingers on one or two sensors on the watch. The sensors detect your pulse and transmit the information to the monitor, which then interprets the information and displays it as heartbeats per minute.
Reliability
When the chest strap on a traditional heart rate monitor makes good skin contact, the device is more reliable than the strapless models. One reason for this is that the strapless model measures your pulse rather than directly measuring your heart rate. Heart rate is the number of heart contractions per minute. Every heartbeat causes blood to be pushed forward in your arteries and capillaries. Pulse is a measurement of this blood flow in the capillaries. As the National Emergency Medicine Association notes, in theory, your pulse completely matches your heart rate. However, pulse of blood flow measurements are more sensitive to body movement than direct heart rate measurements. Therefore, the pulse measurement and the direct heart rate measurement can provide different readings.
Member Comments