Wearable Technology and You – How Can Wearables Improve Your Health?
When you hear the phrase ‘wearable technology’ you probably think of innovations such as fitness trackers and health monitors. Over the course of the past ten years, the simple pedometer has evolved to record more data about the user’s body, track patterns over time and monitor improvements and plateaus. With the growth of web-based applications has come a plethora of apps designed to show the user how their health and fitness levels are improving, in a way which is easy to understand and visible at the touch of a button.
When you think of a doctor’s appointment, how much of that five-minute slot is taken up by the doctor analysing your blood pressure, breathing and temperature? With a wearable medical patch or other device, the doctor will be able to see all of this information at a glance without the need for multiple instruments and pieces of equipment, leaving more time for you to talk to your doctor about the issue you have and reach a satisfactory diagnosis.
Many ailments which people attend the GP or hospital for are spontaneous and have irregular symptoms. Some of these need to be monitored as they are happening, such as a sudden increase in heart rate but as is often the case, by the time the patient has reached the hospital the symptom has subsided and there is no way of recording what caused it or how long it occurred for. With wearable technology, the patient will be able to monitor these episodes at home and save the data to show to a medical professional once they have reached them.
Wearable technology also looks set to improve preventative medicine as the symptoms and causes of such illnesses as heart disease, lung issues and muscular problems can be recorded as they begin to present themselves. This means that rather than the reactionary procedures currently in place – whereby issues are diagnosed and treated after they have manifested and caused problems for the patient – medical professionals will be able to look at patient data, predict future issues and give advice a courses of treatment to prevent the illness or disease from manifesting or becoming worse.
The future of wearable technology is predicted to have a huge influence in both patient and doctor experience. From a patient perspective, the ability to save time during appointments, receive more accurate and efficient diagnoses and monitor their health at home are all positive steps toward more autonomous control over health and wellbeing. Doctors and medical professionals will benefit from the opportunity to carry out their wok in a more efficient manner, as well as having more confidence in their diagnoses and being able to provide better care for their patients.
FlexEnable, a leading provider of flexible technology, is contributing to the wearable healthcare discussion with this infographic – check it out:
