We know that diet, exercise and low-stress life will keep the heart healthy. But sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. 

Thanks to more coordinated, faster emergency response and improved treatment, heart attacks aren't as deadly as they used to be. But survivors still face a substantial risk of further cardiovascular events.

How to restore after a heart attack and prevent another one? What to do besides obvious things such as taking medications, reducing stress, calories, avoiding urban air pollution and getting rid of bad lifestyle habits like smoking?  ​

The first reported person to actually wear a watch on the wrist was the French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). With a piece of string, he attached his pocket watch to his wrist. In the late 1800s, the wrist watch was officially invented by the Swiss watch maker, Patek Phillippe. The first wristwatch for men was designed by Louis Cartier in the early 1900s. And almost a century later watches started to incorporate more functions - from the 1977's Hewlett Packard’s HP-01 with a personal calculator, and a calendar and 2001's Linux-based WatchPad developed by IBM  and Citizen.

Then came the health monitoring. 
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​The Cyber Heartbeat LED watch (shown on the right) won’t measure your actual heartbeat, mimicking an EKG spiking in correlation to the time. But many watch-like devices nowadays actually measure a multitude of vital functions. Ranging in price from less than $30 to $400 and more, a variety of real heart rate monitors are available in the market. 

Suunto, for example, can calculate metrics like oxygen consumption, respiratory rate and training effect. On the lower end, the Omron HR-100C is easy to use and doesn’t have a lot of fancy functions to confuse novices,measuring heart rate with a chest strap and transmitting data to the wrist-mounted display. If you want more features than the basics, reviewers recommend the Polar F11 heart rate monitor.
The Garmin  305 (image on the left) has an integrated GPS antenna, so unlike most heart rate monitors, it can tell how far and how fast you’re going and keep a history of your exercise. 

Animas Corporation, which is now a Johnson & Johnson company, is no longer selling the current model GlucoWatch G2 Biographer System, shown on the right. Cygnus Inc. (Redwood City, California) is already working on second and third generation products that will overcome some of limitations of this watch which include skin irritation and calibration, meaning additional finger-stick tests redone about 20% of the time.

TeleMedIS System combining the TeleMed HC Platform developed by Karolinska and Telehealth Monitoring Wristwatch (TMW) developed by Tadiran LifeCare, connected over the Wireless Network (provided by TeliaSonera Sweden), is able to measure user vital signs by using integrated biosensors. This includes 1-lead ECG, Blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2), Pulse (heart rate) and includes 2-way data and voice telecommunications. It could help to manage Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Arythmia, 
Respiratory diseases and COPD follow-ups. 

Australian researchers have developed a wristwatch that continuously monitors the health status of people with Parkinson’s disease to help doctors manage their treatment, Victorian Minister for Innovation Gavin Jennings said in May 19th press release. The wristwatch, which is still at the prototype stage, was introduced onto the world market by Mr. Jennings at BIO2009 in Atlanta, USA. Professor Malcolm Horne and Dr. Rob Griffiths are the inventors of this technology.