, anyone who is interested could analyze the data, and possibly bring a different perspective to trends.
Data can be anonymized but with pertinent profile details such as age and sex (if available), weight and location kept in tact, to provide valuable demographic and regional information.
A few use cases for wearable health tech include:
Monitoring weight gain as a populace, and what fitness activity we’re taking to fight obesity. (Note: the weight information would be manually entered by each user into their profile for each activity session.)
Studying heartbeat rates, general daily activity variation and duration.
Studying ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) symptoms by using a variety of environmental sensors and body metrics monitors.
The fact is, there are smartphone cases and plugin devices that can collect much of the same info as health and fitness trackers and monitors, sometimes more data. However, wearable tech is more convenient than a smartphone to carry around for some activities such as swimming or surfing.
In fact, some wearable tech such as the Shine pebble-shaped device from MisfitWearables.com is waterproof (to 50 meters/ 164 feet). Battery life for the Shine is 4-6 months, depending on usage, and it’s easy to wear in different ways with accessories such as a clasp, watch (sport and leather) bands, and as a necklace. A similar device to Shine, from Fitbug.com is the Orb, which can also be worn in a variety of ways, including as a necklace.
Try that with a smartphone, which is typically more expensive than most wearable health tech. The Shine is about US$120, the Orb US$50. Which would you be more willing to lose: smartphone or wearable tech?
To help the proliferation of wearable tech for health use, some have suggested that doctors actually prescribe the use of such tech. It could be as simple as the type that gets affixed temporarily in a sticky bandage-like form factor, or something more durable and long-term. Prescription of wearable tech might just be a doctor’s dream if it gets patients to be more active.
Information for this article was collected from the following pages and web sites: