Apple Watch helps Kentucky woman catch AFib while she was asleep

A Kentucky woman is crediting her Apple Watch with alerting her to get her heart checked after it detected she may be suffering from Atrial Fibrillation.

Reported by WHAS11, an ABC affiliate, Rosemary Stiles had received the Apple Watch as a Christmas gift from her boyfriend in 2018. She had wanted the Apple Watch so she could check in on her kids without having to text and drive.

Over the course of last year, Stiles began to suffer from low energy without much explanation.

"I felt tired, I was run down ... I had no energy. I would get up in the mornings and I could do a little bit of stuff around the house but then after a few minutes, I would have to go sit down in a chair, and it wouldn't be long before I would fall asleep."

One day last May, Stiles fell asleep and woke up to a notification from her Apple Watch that it had detected Atrial Fibrillation. "I just fell asleep in my chair and my watch vibrated," said Stiles. "When I looked at it, it said that it had detected A-Fib and I needed to see a doctor."

"I feel like I was blessed," said Stiles. "I think someone upstairs was trying to keep me alive a little while longer. I've got more of a purpose here of something later on down the road."

The Apple Watch Series 4 and Apple Watch Series 5 are both capable of taking an Electrocardiogram and also monitors your heartbeat in the background, which helps detect an irregular heartbeat. Stiles' story is the latest in a long series of reports where an Apple Watch health feature helped to alert someone to see a doctor, or emergency services to locate someone in distress.