Just like everything else, healthcare industry is also undergoing a sea of change because of new gadgets and technologies making their way into the field of healthcare and medicine. In present times when people are short on time and can’t afford to visit their doctors regularly, wearable health metrics have become quite a rage as not only these gadgets let one assess their health on a regular basis, they also save those time consuming trips to the doctor for every little thing.
The market of the wearables is poised to increase amazingly in the next five years. And this trend would certainly inspire the introduction of more such gadgets. Let us look at five of these wearable gadgets that may turn out to be essentialities in the healthcare field.
1.Smart Contact Lenses
Contact lenses have become a necessity as well as a fashion accessory nowadays. But talk about Google and it can bring technology in anything. According to reports, Google X is entering into a partnership with Swiss drug maker Novartis on a project that aims to restore the autofocus abilities of the eyes using smart contact lenses. These smart lenses will have sensors in the lens, which by measuring glucose levels in the tears of the users would track the health metrics. These lenses will perform dual functions of correcting age-related long sightedness and also as a useful tool for diabetics to track the sugar levels in their blood.
2.Empatica Embrace
Epileptic seizures are a painful thing to witness as well as to endure. An MIT professor Rosalind Pickard has developed a health tracker named ‘Embrace’ which has been specially designed for people who suffer from epileptic seizures. This health tracker gadget tracks sleep and activity and physiological stress. It can even detect oncoming seizures and inform a caregiver automatically. It is hoped that this disease can help a lot not only in epilepsy cases but also Alzheimer’s and Parkisnson’s.
3.Wearable health patches
Tattoo-like wearables may be the next big thing in the field of health tracking devices as these are not bulky, don’t have to be carried around, instead stick to the skin like skin itself. Such kind of trackers were in use from quite some time but owing to the high costs associated with these, were not much used. Now, researchers at the University of Texas have developed a ‘cut and paste’ method of sticking these wearables on your skin. These would be produced in an affordable way in just 20 minutes by cutting pieces of metal on polymer adhesives and printing electronics onto the adhesives. It is hoped that after this recent development, these patches will become more prevalent and readily available for doctors to track vital signs like heart rate, muscle movements etc. of the patient.
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