Lifestyle support through efficient ECG acquisition and analysis.

Abstract

People are becoming more aware of their health and the lifestyles they live. As people use computers more and more in a wide variety of occupations, they would find it desirable to monitor their lifestyle without having to leave their desk. Through the analysis of the Electrocardiogram (ECG), it is possible to obtain a person's heartrate and diagnose a number of conditions associated with abnormal heart function. To obtain an accurate heartrate, the ECG signals have to be analysed and calculations performed to find occurrences of the QRS complex, a major component of the ECG signal. This research entailed creating the software required to interpret ECG signals recorded from an innovative computer peripheral allowing recordings from the user's forearms as they operate the computer. The user could therefore effortlessly monitor their lifestyle during normal computer usage.