Are Wearable Health Devices Just a Trend, Or Will They Continue Playing a Major Role in Personal Health and Fitness?

There is a trending appetite for heath. We want to be fitter, stronger and healthier than ever. And it could be that wearable health devices can help us achieve this. By 2017, it is projected that there will be 170 million devices being used. With such widespread use, it could have positive impacts on the health of Americans. So, how can tracking your health data keep you healthy? And what can we expect in the future of health data?

Track Health Data

By tracking consistent, real-time data, wearable health devices allow us to make more educated decisions regarding our health. We can use the information and insight, provided by this data to quickly change our behavior if we are experiencing undesirable symptoms. For example, Mary's device may indicate that her blood pressure levels are consistently increasing. She may not have discovered this until she went in to the doctor for the flu 1 year later. Because her device alerted her of these changes, she can immediately change the habits that are raising her blood pressure.

The average person can have access to real-time data that measures and tracks: heart rate, steps, sleep, food, galvanic skin response, temperature, and calories burned. But, it's not just data. It is converted into data visualization programs that everyone can understand. We can take this data and turn it into actionable insight.

The Future of Wearable Tech?

Soon, there will even be contact lenses that can monitor blood sugar levels. We may soon even see epidural electronics (essentially sensors that are tattooed onto the skin) that will monitor our daily activities. This may be especially helpful to monitor surgical wounds. Google is also on a mission to develop the nanotechnology required, so that we can have nano-sensors swimming through our blood, on the lookout for cancer. Soon enough, we may even be able to gather more data and information than ever imagined through a wearable device that monitors our sweat. It is for this reason it is important for data scientists and medical professionals to collaborate to develop more discoveries, like these.

Read more about Wearable Heath Devices