A heart monitor is a device that is used to measure the amount of times a heart beats in a certain length of time and can also provide the rhythm patterns of heart beats.
There are several different uses for heart rate monitors that range from critical care units in hospitals to an athlete training for a marathon.
Heart rate monitors are commonly used by athletes in order for them to measure the effectiveness of a workout, stay with in their performance target range, as well as evaluate their heart rate during all stages of their workout. This type of heart rate monitor usually attaches to a thin band that goes around an individual’s chest and has a device to measure heart rate.
Heart rate monitors have become a standard feature on several different pieces of aerobic exercise equipment such as treadmills and elliptical machines. This allows individuals who are using the equipment to gage their heart rate and determine if they need to work harder or ease up.
Several professional sports teams and collegiate teams use heart rate monitors to determine an athlete’s individual fitness levels. Doctors also use heart rate monitors during physicals to determine the patients resting heart rate and the heart rate while at different levels of activity.
Another type of heart rate monitor is known as a cardiac monitor and it is a device that measures a number of other vital signs such as a patient’s heart beats per minute and the beat rhythm. These devices are crucial pieces of equipment in hospitals and save patients lives everyday by alerting doctors and nurses if a patients heart functions drop to low levels.
Heart rate monitors are also used to evaluate and monitor fetal heart rates in unborn babies during pregnancy. During prenatal visits after 11 to15 weeks gestation heart rate monitors are used to hear and evaluate the beats per minute of the fetus. During labor external heart rate monitors are placed strategically on the mother’s abdomen to monitor the fetus’s heart rate. Internal heart rate monitors are also used in situations where external monitors are not providing a clear reading.