Many of the more common health issues today can cause low oxygen levels in our blood or what we call oxygen saturation. Whether you have respiratory or cardiovascular problems, whether you’ve caught an unpleasant infection or you just have a young infant at home whose health you want to monitor, keeping an eye for oxygen saturation is a must.
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Pulse oximeters are designed to monitor the amount of oxygen present in our blood’s hemoglobin proteins. Anything between 95% and 100% oxygen levels is considered the norm but if a pulse oximeter shows that your oxygen levels have dropped below 90%, that’s a crucial piece of information that should spring you into action.
To give you a bit more details, below we’ll go over the 7 main benefits of getting a pulse oximeter for your household and why this just might be the best health-related purchase you’ll make this year.
Like many other types of traditional hospital equipment, modern pulse oximeters come in a lot of great, compact, and practical designs for home use. This is fantastic for people with certain chronic conditions that need to be monitored daily or even just from time to time. That way, with a good pulse oximeter at home, you can do some of your own medical examinations and have an easier time figuring out when you need to go see a professional or take certain measures yourself.
The 7 benefits of pulse oximeters
1. Oximeters ensure the safety of physical activities
If you’re one of the many people with certain underlying cardiovascular or respiratory conditions, you are in the weird situation of needing physical exercise while also being put at risk by it. That’s why it’s always important to consult with medical professionals about what type and intensity of physical exercise they recommend.
This is also something pulse oximeters are very helpful for as they can help you judge how safe certain exercises are and how much you can safely push yourself with them. Wrist pulse oximeters can be worn non-stop during the exercise itself to help you see just how your oxygen levels change.
2. They can help for conditions such as sleep apnea and severe snoring
A lot of us are used to ignoring “mild” conditions such as severe snoring or sleep apnea. These can have detrimental effects on our long-term health, however, and need to get much more attention than they do. Pulse oximeters are one way to help with that as they can monitor our nighttime oxygen saturation levels and show us whether we have certain dangerous underlying conditions that may be causing it. An oximeter won’t cure your sleep apnea on its own but it provides valuable information you can take to your physician the next day.
3. Pulse oximeters help judge the effectiveness of breathing interventions
Another common use for pulse oximeters is to help us monitor the effectiveness of certain breathing interventions such as ventilators, oxygen therapy, and others. A lot of these are done in hospital settings but they can also be performed in the comfort of your own home. In these situations, having a good pulse oximeter is a must if you want to make sure that the intervention is achieving its goal.
4. Hospitals use pulse oximeters to monitor infants
A lot of hospitals nowadays use state-of-the-art pulse oximeters to monitor the health of some of their most vulnerable patients 24/7. These can include anyone from older people in critical conditions to infants in neonatal intensive care units. This is also something that parents of newborn babies or caretakers for elderly relatives can do at home if the baby or person in their care has certain underlying health risks. A finger pulse oximeter can be used several times a day to monitor their health and a wrist oximeter can be worn basically all day.
5. Pulse oximeters assess the need for supplement oxygen
If you have any underlying condition related to oxygen saturation, your doctor has likely told you to have supplement oxygen nearby in need of an emergency. The way we can be sure we need such supplement oxygen, however, is precisely by getting a good pulse oximeter.
6. Oximeters can alert you about the side effects of certain drugs
There are some drugs out there that, while useful, have certain risks for some people and may affect their breathing or oxygen saturation. If you know you have to take such a drug despite the risks, having a pulse oximeter on hand is vital for ensuring that the oxygen saturation of your hemoglobin proteins is just as it should be.
7. They offer a good peace of mind if you have a chronic condition
Even if you’re not directly at risk of anything at the moment, the best pulse oximeters just offer the peace of mind that everything is alright. Especially at times of global pandemics and various other health concerns, having a good pulse oximeter on hand is a great way to calm yourself that your health is where it needs to be.
In conclusion
Pulse oximeters are not the be-all and end-all of self health care as there’s always going to be the need for consulting with medical professionals. However, the best pulse oximeters are very useful for helping us assess what our current condition is, whether oxygen saturation is something to keep in mind, whether we need to take certain supplements, or whether we need to call our doctor immediately.
Fortunately, the best pulse oximeters today are widely available online and can be purchased and used very easily without the need for professional supervision or help.