Ahead of American Heart Health Month, it’s always interesting to hear stories of people who discovered a heart condition and made the most of this difficult period to improve their fitness and well-being. Many of those stories are related to the Apple Watch. Apple’s smartwatch can sometimes tell when a person might have a heart attack, or when something is wrong with their vitals. In the case of Matthew Smith, a Canadian in his early 50s, the Apple Watch played an important role after he survived a severe heart attack.
Here’s his story of how Apple Fitness+, the Apple Watch, and the Gentler Streak app impacted his fitness habits.
“I’m 56 and have always been in just average shape. On May 3rd, 2020, I suffered a sudden and severe heart attack. 100% blockage to my heart caused by atherosclerosis or plaque build-up in my arteries. After finally making it to the hospital on that tragic day, they placed two stents in my artery near my heart, and I went into cardiac arrest. I needed a shock to restart my heart. I spent five days in intensive care, and that’s when I knew my life had changed forever.”
After that, Smith says he no longer smoked and only “very rarely enjoyed a drink.” In addition, he devoted himself to living a healthy lifestyle by exercising with Apple Fitness+. BGR covered the positive impacts of Apple’s fitness service, including how it helped me run the most important 15K running race in São Paulo, Brazil.
While Smith engaged in several workouts little by little, including Yoga, HIIT, Strength, Core, and Time to Walk, a year and a half later, he was diagnosed with the first stage of heart failure. So, instead of giving up working out, he discovered Gentler Streak, which helped him understand the limits of his body.
“Gentler Streak immediately caught my eye because it’s so pleasing to look at in every way: the colors, the animation, and the positive, thoughtful text. Gentler Streak brings the sometimes overwhelming amount of health data into a thoughtful, simple, clear, and actionable app that I’ve found essential to my well-being. Apple Fitness+, the Apple Watch, iPhone, and Apple TV have been huge in my fitness story. Oh, and I can’t forget my Beats Fit Pros because they are great too! For all this fantastic hardware to be useful, you need fantastic software. I have a few seriously good fitness apps – Zones, Training Today, Cardiogram, HeartWatch, CardioBot, Pedometer++, I could go on, but my favorite is definitely Gentler Streak. It really has helped change my life in a very positive way.”
Three years later, Matthew Smith thinks it’s incredible how he was able to get so many positive and wonderful things out of such tragedy. “I am a huge fan of Fitness+ and use their service daily combined with Gentler Streak. Over the last three years using both, I’m now in much better shape and way happier than before my heart attack.” He says he has over 1,750 Fitness+ workouts and is now “almost effortlessly living a consistently healthy way of life that’s full of exercise, mindfulness, good sleep, and healthy eating.”
Wrap up
Apple Fitness+ is Apple’s fitness service, available as a standalone service or part of the Apple One subscription. Gentler Streak is an exclusive app for the Apple ecosystem. It’s free to download, but a subscription is required for extended functionalities. You can also read Smith’s full story here.
