What's a Cc of Blood? A "cc" of blood is 1 cubic centimeter of blood. A cubic centimeter is equivalent to 1 milliliter. The typical human has about 5,000 cubic centimeters of blood. Blood is an essential component in the human body that distributes nitrogen, oxygen and different nutrients to important organs. Blood is composed of plasma and blood cells. Plasma comprises proteins that assist in blood clotting throughout injury. About half of blood volume is made up of blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to tissues and organs, white blood cells fight infections and platelets assist in blood clotting. The American Red Cross collects roughly 15.7 million blood donations every year in the United States. About 1 pint, or 473 cubic centimeters, of blood is collected through the donation. In response to the American Red Cross, one blood donation can save up to 3 lives, as purple blood cells, platelets and plasma can be used individually from the blood.

The Apple Watch Series 6 feels like it has perfected lots of the features I liked about its predecessor. It has a brighter always-on show, a extra powerful processor, faster charging and two new colorful options to choose from. However the characteristic I was most excited to try out was its new sensor that measures oxygen saturation within the blood (aka SpO2) with the faucet of a screen. As someone who panic-purchased a pulse oximeter initially of the coronavirus pandemic and still checks her levels at the primary sign of a cough, the thought of getting one strapped to my wrist at all times was sufficient to pique my curiosity. But unlike the ECG feature on the Apple Watch, which has been tried, examined and cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, along with the irregular heart rhythm notifications, SpO2 on the Apple Watch still appears to be in its early levels. Navigating all this new data will be daunting for anyone who's not a medical skilled.

I purchased an FDA-cleared pulse oximeter, the machine doctors use to measure SpO2 in your fingertip, as a precaution when coronavirus circumstances in the US started to climb. Having low blood oxygen levels doesn't guarantee you've got COVID-19, but it is considered one of the key symptoms of the illness. I had learn horror stories of people who waited too long to go to the hospital and had died in their sleep because they didn't notice their ranges had dipped overnight. You must at all times examine with a physician in case you are experiencing shortness of breath (one other symptom of COVID-19), even if a pulse oximeter says you're in a wholesome range, however I discovered comfort in realizing that I may at least use it as a reference if I ever experienced shortness of breath. That's not something you are able to do with the Apple Watch -- Apple says it needs to be used for wellness purposes only and not as a medical device, meaning you'll should take the outcomes with a grain of salt and shouldn't use it to display screen for any kind of disease, which is what I had been hoping to get out of it.

But there could also be different advantages of getting it strapped on your wrist always. Much like a pulse oximeter, the Series 6 makes use of red and infrared light from its new sensor to determine the proportion of oxygen within the blood. But as a substitute of shining the light through your fingertip, it makes use of the sunshine that is reflected back from the blood vessels in your wrist to find out your oxygen levels based on the shade of your blood. Throughout the setup process you're asked whether or not you want to activate SpO2 monitoring, BloodVitals SPO2 which I did, but you may at all times return and disable it in the settings after the fact. The very first thing I did after strapping on the Watch was open the Blood Oxygen app. It offers you a few tips about easy methods to get one of the best outcome and you could rest your arm on a table or flat floor whereas the Watch is taking a reading.

Then the 15-second countdown begins and you are accomplished -- straightforward and painless SPO2 testing. I received a 95% on my first read, which was decrease than what I'm used to from my pulse oximeter. Anything above 90% is usually thought of by clinicians to be within a healthy vary, however normally, greater is best. I examined it a couple of extra times and bought barely totally different outcomes within a few percentage points relying on whether or not I used to be utterly still and silent during the check, the place I had the watch positioned on my wrist and the way tight the strap was. There are numerous factors that can have an effect on a reading, resembling pores and skin temperature or the position of the sensors on the physique. Side-by-side with my pulse oximeter, the Apple Watch was usually off by about one or two points, painless SPO2 testing however generally spot on. What was more interesting to me was the SpO2 information that collected over time within the Health app .