Health Technology: Taking Your Health to a Digital Level
Fitness and health go hand in hand so of course fitness technology and health technology also go together. Today’s digital world offers advances in health care, making it easier to keep track of your health by just a monitor or wearable.
What is Health Technology?
WHO (World Health Organization) defines health technology as “A health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives.”
Crucial to the world of health technologies is health technology assessment. This is basically the systematic evaluation of properties, effects and/or impacts of health technologies.
Health technologies are changing the world of health and fitness. So many choices are out there: FitBits, Jawbone UP, smartwatches, etc.
In this post we’re going to look at five health technologies that are worth watching out for.
Smart Pill Bottles
Just as important as taking the right medications is taking them the proper way. Introducing “smart” pill bottles. These pill bottles send real-time alerts to online servers and users. As an example, there’s the AdhereTech smart pill bottle. This pill bottle sends an alert when it’s time to take the medicine – the bottle turns blue. If the bottle is not opened that blue turns to red and has an accompanying beep.
Apple Watch ECG
The Apple Watch ECG is an FDA-approved electrocardiogram monitor set inside an Apple Watch. It’s currently available without a prescription to people 22 years old and older. This type of monitor can detect dangerous, abhorrent heart rhythms such as afib, alerting you early to a potentially life-endangering issue.
Sleep Trackers
Sleep trackers are monitors that monitor your sleep, looking for patterns, depth of sleep, length of sleep, quality of sleep and disorders such as sleep apnea. Apple recently bought Beddit, a sleep tracker startup that produces sleep monitors that relay heartbeats, breathing rhythm and etc. via Bluetooth. One example of these sleep trackers is the Jawbone UP.
Noninvasive Glucose Monitors
These monitors will assist diabetics in keeping track of their glucose levels – blood sugar levels either too high or too low can be life-threatening to a diabetic. This market is moving fast. The digital diabetes market tripled its total revenue to almost $100 million and is projected to reach $742 million by 2022.
Genetic Profiling
Genetic profiling provides information on DNA, biomarkers and other metrics such as health and fitness. This information is then used to create personalized fitness plans and diets based on your genetic markers. Profiling is an excellent way of seeing what nutrients your body needs more of or less of, of seeing what fitness plan works best for you, and what exercises your body will respond best to. One company making great strides in genetic profiling is Muhdo.
Conclusion
Although the healthcare field has been a bit slower than the fitness field to jump onto the digital bandwagon, there are some very helpful options on the market now. And there are more to come!
Image Credit: US News
