Atrial fibrillation is the most common serious heart rhythm disorder in the world, affecting millions of Americans — many of whom don't know they have it, don't understand what it means, and don't know what modern medicine can actually do about it. In this episode, Dr. Rasham Sandhu sits down with Dr. Gurjit Singh, a cardiac electrophysiologist who trained and taught at Henry Ford Hospital for over a decade before joining California Cardiovascular Institute as Chief Medical Officer and serving as Medical Director of AFib and Electrophysiology at Dignity Health and Adventist Health Bakersfield.
Dr. Singh is also the researcher who proved in a landmark 2021 study that iPhone 12 magnets can deactivate implanted cardiac defibrillators — a discovery that went international and triggered an FDA panel that reshaped guidance for both device companies and smartphone manufacturers. He starts there, and then the conversation opens up into one of the most thorough, accessible, and practically useful breakdowns of AFib you'll find in podcast form.
They cover how the heart's electrical system works and what actually happens during AFib, why the disease is showing up in younger and younger patients, the full landscape of modifiable risk factors and what the research actually says about each one, how AFib ablation works and why it is now considered a first-line therapy for most patients, what the Watchman device is and who it's appropriate for, how wearables like Apple Watch and Whoop fit into monitoring and early detection, and what the next 10 to 15 years of AFib prevention and treatment might look like — including AI-driven risk prediction from EKG data and nervous system modulation that doesn't require burning any heart tissue at all.
Dr. Singh also shares the story of a patient he restored to normal rhythm after 15 years of AFib and heart failure — a case most physicians would have considered untreatable — and gives a practical framework for the 45-year-old who exercises a few times a week, has a drink on the weekends, and wants to know what they can actually do to reduce their risk given a family history of the disease.
If you or someone you love has AFib, has been told they might be at risk, or is simply trying to understand what their wearable is telling them about their heart, this is the episode to share.
Mentioned in This Episode
- California Cardiovascular Institute (CCI) — cacvinst.com | 8337 Brimhall Rd Building 1200, Bakersfield CA 93312
- Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan
- Dignity Health Bakersfield and Adventist Health Bakersfield
- iPhone 12 magnet / defibrillator study — published in Heart Rhythm Society (2021)
- AFIRM Trial (rate vs. rhythm control)
- CASTLE-AF Trial (ablation in heart failure patients)
- Apple Heart Study (~400,000 patients, AFib detection via Apple Watch)
- Decaf Trial (200 patients, coffee and AFib risk)
- GLP-1 / semaglutide meta-analysis (26 studies, 17% AFib risk reduction)
- Devices mentioned: Apple Watch, Whoop, Garmin, Kardia App, Oura Ring (upcoming episode), Watchman, Amplatzer
- Medications mentioned: warfarin, apixaban, rivaroxaban, heparin, antiarrhythmics
Connect
Dr. Rasham Sandhu — @nextphasehuman
Dr. Gurjit Singh — @dr_gurjitsingh
Next Phase Human Podcast — @nextphasehuman
California Cardiovascular Institute
8337 Brimhall Rd Building 1200, Bakersfield, CA 93312
cacvinst.com
Interested in being a guest on Next Phase Human?
Contact: [email protected]
