INTRODUCTION

“Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it”

-Josh Billings

To enjoy a quality life wellness of a person is very crucial. Wellness directly affects

a person’s action and reaction towards a situation and those actions will eventually affects

the health. Thus, it is an ongoing continuous process. A healthy body prevents many

diseases and that can help a person to have his independence even as he ages.

“Health is wealth” is a very common proverb which compares the value of health with

wealth and explains its importance. From the very first time the heart starts pounding until

the time of death, it may beat more than 3.5 billion times. The centre of the circulatory

system is the heart. The average heart beats 100,000 times each day, pushing around

2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body. With a life span of 70-90, the heart will beat

two to three billion times and circulate 50-65 million gallons of blood. The hearts role is to

pump oxygenated blood to every cell in the body by having a continuous beat. (Laura

Simpson 2016).

When it comes to your heart rate, it’s a bit like the speed of your car. What you want is

not too fast, not to slow, and not to erratic. In fact, most of the time, heart rhythm and

pace are not things you need to think about. Unless something unusual is going on, you’re

likely completely unaware of what your heart is doing.

Heart rate is important because the heart’s function is too important. The heart circulates

oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout the body. When it’s not working properly, just

about everything is affected. Heart rate is central to this process because the function of

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the heart (called “cardiac output”) is directly related to heart rate and stroke volume (the

amount of blood pumped out with each beat). (Harvard Health Publishing, 2017)

Heart ailments are still the most fatal and most common diseases in the Philippines,

according to the country’s Department of Health. Called the “silent epidemic” by former

Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have a topped

list of most common diseases in the Philippines over the past few years, responsible for

15 to 20 percent of reported deaths annually. In some years, these numbers are

significantly higher. In 2012, The National Statistics Office reported that half of the

country’s deaths stemmed from cardiovascular causes.

The most common of these ailments is coronary heart disease which is caused by plaque

build-up in the wall of the arteries that supply the blood to the heart which causes chest

pain, shortness of breath, and heart attack. Other heart ailments such as angina which is

caused by reduced blood flow to your heart muscle. Your blood carries oxygen, which

your heart muscle needs to survive which causes chest pain, atherosclerosis which is

caused by high blood pressure, smoking, or high cholesterol which is causes heart attack,

stroke, or even death, hypertension which is caused by increasing blood pressure which

causes stroke, and High blood pressure, and congenital heart disease which is caused

by problems with genes, alcohol abuse and drug abuse, and a viral infection, have also

been rampant among Filipinos. Heart diseases can lead to other complications in vital

organs, which makes the commonness of heart conditions alarming.

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The department of Health has estimated an increase in the number of heart disease

incidences from 10 to 15 percent annually starting in 2013. The trend coincides with

increases in reported hypertension cases. Hypertensive patients are more likely to

develop kidney complications.

Analyst trace the cause of these diseases to main factors: growing unawareness of public

health issues and insufficient finances of most of its citizen to buy medical equipment like

heart rate monitors. As cited in a 2015 study by the Philippine Institute for Development

Studies, the quick development of high-paying industries and subsequent rapid economic

growth have given Filipino consumers more purchasing power than ever before. Yet this

growth has not always necessarily translated to shift towards healthier options or an

awareness of healthier food alternative. Fast food consumption is higher than ever before,

with 25 percent of Filipinos eating out at least once a week according to Nielsen.(Bella

Suansing, July 21,2017)

There are a lot of ways to prevent or lessen heart disease through using medicines,

techniques, improving your lifestyle, and medical technologies or procedures. Ways to

prevent or reduce the risk for heart disease which includes Medicine and Techniques.

Registered Deaths in the Philippines Causes (2017)

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Related researches (5)

According to Hisham, R.B et.al, January 2017 Fetal heart rate is an important indicator or

biological index to know the condition of fetal heart rate monitor that can be used by a

pregnant mother in home environment. There are five steps taken to develop a fetal heart

rate monitor: 1) data acquisition;2) data pre-processing;3) feeding into microcontroller;4)

post-processing and 5) display. The condenser microphone was used as a sensor to

acquire fetal heart sound. The sensor acquires the data then undergoes pre-processing

which involves amplification and filtration using fourth order law pass butterworth filter.

The operational amplifier was used for pre-amplification during filtration; the operational

amplifier used in LM 741. The signal acquires after pre-processing stage, sent to the

microcontroller (ATMega328 ) for the computation and transmission of data by developing

an algorithm so that the computer can read the signal. Finally, the output (fetal heart rate)

was displayed on LCD. In the preliminary study, the developed prototype was tested on

10 pregnant mothers supervised by specialised at the clinical setup. The accuracy of the

prototype fetal heart rate has been confirmed relative to electronic stethoscope. The

overall bias for fetal heart rate based on relative verification between prototype and

electronic stethoscope is 1.4% and -1.2% respectively. Hence, the result shows that

developed prototype can detect the fetal heart rate maternal from third trimester onwards.

In future developed prototype device will be tested on larger database to confirm the

accuracy of the device.

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Another report authored by Jain, N et.al, January 2015. Describes heart rate monitors as

an excellent device in helping to monitor body health because it is very important to us to

make sure our health is in excellent condition. One of the vital parameter for this device

under consideration is the heart rate (HR) data part apart from other significant body

monitoring parameter such as, temperature, weight and blood pressure which are also

significant to body health monitoring. In this project we describe the design of low cost

heart rate monitoring device from fingertips based on Bluetooth technology. The entire

system is comprised of several parts such as Heart Rate module, Android application and

Bluetooth module. The Heart rate (HR) module picks up heart rate signals by a non-

invasive technique (Photoplethysmography) from the subject (patients) and sends it

(signals) wirelessly to computer or android application using Bluetooth module. This

system can be embraced and combined as a part of telemedicine constituent. The data

received from heart rate module can be saved and viewed for further medical usage. The

result from this device prototype can be utilized for various clinical investigations, indeed

these Bluetooth’s signal can be transmitted between 15 to 20 meters radius.

Another report authored by Turner, J et.al, May 2017. States that health monitoring is an

important aspect of everyday life for many people. In this study, the design of a heart rate

monitor with Bluetooth connectivity is discussed. The AD8232 Single Lead, Heart Rate

Monitor is the centrepiece of the design. The output of this monitor is an analog output,

so an analog-to-digital converter is used on the Dragon12-plus2 board. Data is wirelessly

transferred to smartphone using Bluetooth. The data received from the monitor is

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analysed to determine a heart rate in beats per minute. MIT app inventor 2 is used to

design the app to display the heart rate on Smartphone.

Another report authored by Goodie, J et.al. October 2000 which is titled the Polar Vantage

XL heart rate monitor. The Polar Vantage XL heart rate monitor provides an ambulatory,

inexpensive method of continuously measuring heart rate. To examine the validity of the

Polar monitor for measuring heart rate during resting periods and while engaging in 2

stressful tasks, 30 college students (aged 18-48 yrs.) participated in a 1-hr laboratory

session. Heart rates were measured simultaneously using the Polar monitor and

electrocardiography (ECG) during a hand grip exercise and a mental arithmetic task, each

preceded by a 4-min resting period. Within-subject correlations between the 2 devices

were significant. All correlations, except for 3 Ss, exceeded r = 0.90. Between-task

correlation analyses revealed high correlation between the Polar monitor and ECG. The

Polar monitor obtained readings that were slightly, through significantly higher than

readings obtained using ECG. The correspondence between observed mean heart rates

from the Polar monitor and ECG suggest that the Polar monitor provides a valid measure

of heart rate during stationary laboratory task. (PsycNFO Database Record © 2012 APA,

all right reserved)

Peoples have a variety of reasons to use heart rate monitors. For example, patients in a

hospital might have stationary, bedside equipment monitor their heart rate and alert

medical staff in case of an emergency. Somebody going for a run might wear portable

heart rate monitor to keep track of their workout intensity. Heart rate monitor are not all

the same their appearance and function will vary depending on the intended use. In this

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project you will design, build and program your own heart rate monitor that fits the needs

you identify.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

Using a heart rate monitor is a good way to give you visual feedback of where your heart

rate is. It’s easy to overestimate or underestimate sometimes, especially if you are just

starting out, so a HRM can be very helpful tool. Kathleen LeGrys

Chemicals just can’t move between blood and muscle, or within the muscle, fast enough

to keep up with the demand at a heart rate of around 80 percent of maximum. For the

fifty-year-old, that’s a heart rate of 136 per minute; at sixty-five, it’s 124. If you go above

your number, your muscles become starved of oxygen and the glucose can’t burn all the

way down to carbon dioxide. Instead, you build up a sludge called lactate, which is

incompletely burned sugar and which shuts down your muscle function after a few

seconds of exercise at peak levels (like sprinting the length of a football field). As with the

switch from fat to glucose, the switch into “anaerobic” metabolism, where there isn’t

enough oxygen, has ripple effects throughout your body.

The only way to tell when you reach and cross these thresholds is with a heart rate

monitor. You can’t do it by how you feel. Even Olympic athletes, training six hours a day

for years, can’t do it by how they feel. You can certainly get in shape without a heart rate

monitor, but you’ll waste a fair amount of your time and effort.

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The general objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the improvised

heart rate monitor. Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

1. Determine the heart rate using the improvised heart rate monitor and the

commercial heart rate monitor;

Ho: There is no significant difference between the improvised heart rate monitor

and commercial heart rate monitor.

2. Determine the acceptability between the improvised heart rate monitor and

commercial heart rate monitor in terms of design and appearance.

Ho. There is no significant difference in the acceptability of the improvised heart

rate monitor and commercial heart rate monitor.

3. Determine the cost analysis of the improvised heart rate monitor.

Many runners, patients, athletes, and gym goers may do strenuous activities that

may affect their heart in a negative way some athletes or runners may over do their

workouts and may end up getting a heart attack, Etc. One solution to this is buying a heart

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rate monitor to make sure you don’t overdo something but not everyone can afford with

the cheapest authentic one being 600 pesos up to 1500. From this problem the researcher

will arrive to the construction of the improvised incubator to help less fortunate people.

This will not only help people develop their resourcefulness but it will also help them with

in controlling their exercises, activities, etc. .This study entitled “How to make an

Improvised Heart Rate Monitor” is beneficial

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This paper entitled “Heartduinob” will mainly focus on how to build an improvised heart

rate monitor with the use of an Arduino kit to find an alternative and a much cheaper way

to get a heart rate monitor. The major problems that the researcher was faced with was

time constraint due to other assignment and that there were no nearby shops to purchase

a missing part for their project.