Using O2Ring when awake

[Bob Engelhardt]

The O2ring is intended for use at night, when asleep.  Somewhere they say that using it while moving about is not reliable because of the motion involved interferes with the sensors.  Or something like that.

It would be really nice to be able to use it during various activities to see the effect of those activities on the SpO2.  But, even if it can't be used for continuous recording, it would be useful to get spot readings.  I.e., stop moving & take a reading.  My question is: how long after stopping do you have to wait for the sensors to stabilize and give a reliable reading?

Thanks, Bob

[Crimson Nape]

I'm sure that would be dependent on the preceding activity. The binary file will record bad data entries as an "FF" value in hex ("255" Decimal).
- Red

[Bob Engelhardt]

I did some experiments.  When walking I would occasionally stop and record the exact times that I stopped and then resumed walking.  Then when I downloaded the O2ring data, I could look at those specific times and see how the O2 readings correlated to the "movement" that the O2ring was reporting.

In the attached chart, the times that I was stopped are the green shaded intervals.  It's clear that while walking the movements are high and the O2 readings very erratic (e.g. a reading of 84%, a minute later a reading of 96%, and less than a minute after that a reading of 85%).  When stopped the movement reading are low, as expected, and the O2 readings pretty much immediately stable.  Or at least there is not a period where the readings are erratic and then settle into a stable reading.  Not a black and white difference, but clear enough that when stopped, the O2 readings are reliable.

   

My take away is that the recorded values aren't useful, but that using the O2ring as a spot oximeter is reliable.  Many times as expensive as an end-of-the-finger pulse oximeter, but more convenient and if you already have an O2ring, you can use it for spot checking during daily activities.

[Crimson Nape]

Generally, most oximeter manufacturers advise not to use their product while exercising. Here is a review by the NIH on this subject, titled "Accuracy of pulse oximetry during exercise stress testing".
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1459747/

- Red

[Bob Engelhardt]

Generally, most oximeter manufacturers advise not to use their product while exercising.  Here is a review by the NIH on this subject, titled "Accuracy of pulse oximetry during exercise stress testing".
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1459747/

- Red

That is an interesting study, as are several of the studies linked to in that one.

However, in my case it is not really relevant as my level of "exercise" is minimal.  E.g., walking at slow pace - maybe 1-1/2 mph, or leisurely yard work.  In my case, if I've gotten SOB I want to check my SO2 in case it's fallen below 90%.  So pausing any activity and taking an O2ring reading is useful.  And reliable I've concluded - as long as I've stopped moving.