How the Apple Watch helped a tech worker reprioritize his mental health

When Sharath Seeram, a 25-year-old developer from Bengaluru, started getting heart rate alerts on his Apple Watch, he did what any sensible person would and went to see his doctor.

"The doctor initially asked me to conduct some tests to see if there were any other physical issues - I was asked to take a clinical ECG and some blood tests," Sharath told Times Now. "After assessing all the reports, she concluded that I did not have any other issues and that the heart rate issues were a direct result of stress."

Sharath worked a particularly stressful job that required him to work long hours under unsupportive management. As other workers left the company due to the stressful environment, more work piled onto the remaining workers.

As it turns out, the increased workload and hostile environment were having a direct effect on not only Sharath's mental health but his physical health as well. He'd return home each evening exhausted, often with a fever.

His doctor recommended that he find a way to reduce the stress at his job or quit immediately. She believed that working for a few months under the same stress level could have long-term implications for his heart.

After the career switch, Sharath's heart rate dropped dramatically without making any other lifestyle changes. In thanks, he penned a letter to Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, praising the Apple Watch for helping him take his mental health seriously.

The Apple Watch is often lauded for saving lives. Recently, an 82-year-old who was given an Apple Watch for Christmas says it may have saved his life after a car hit him.

In January, the Apple Watch was credited with helping save the life of an airline passenger, using the legally-troubled blood oxygen feature.

That same month, a student in Delaware was saved from carbon monoxide poisoning thanks to a last-minute use of Emergency SOS on her Apple Watch.