Wearable devices are becoming increasingly prevalent in healthcare as tools used in clinical care and biomedical research. They are key tools for digitized, personalized medicine and can assist in individual monitoring and diagnosis. These devices are revolutionizing healthcare by seamlessly integrating technology into daily life to enhance medical outcomes. They provide individuals with real-time data about physiological metrics such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, body temperature, and glucose levels. By continuously monitoring and analyzing this personal data, wearable devices can provide valuable insights to aid in early diagnosis, personalized treatment, and proactive health maintenance. As this technology evolves, it promises to bridge the gap between patients and healthcare providers and make personalized and preventive care more accessible and effective.
Current Wearable Devices for Health Monitoring
There are several wearable devices currently used for health monitoring. Here are a few of them:
- Smartwatches – Smartwatches are one of the most common devices used for personal health monitoring as they can monitor heart rate, sleep, stress levels, electrical activity of the heart, blood oxygen levels, physical activity, and other fitness-tracking features.
- Fitness Trackers – While smartwatches have fitness-tracking features in them, some devices’ sole purpose is monitoring activity levels. This includes measuring steps, heart rate, sleep patterns, and exercise tracking. It can also measure maximal oxygen consumption (also called VO2 max), which is how much oxygen your body uses while exercising. A higher VO2 max indicates better cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance.
- Heart Rate Monitors – These wearable devices detect and track heart and pulse rates continuously. They are highly accurate and can also be used to monitor stress and activity levels during the night. Heart rate monitors can also track sleep quality at night and monitor vital signs at home, which is especially helpful in patients with certain health conditions such as irregular heartbeats (also called arrhythmias).
- Smart Rings – Smart rings are worn on one of your fingers to track heart rate and other vital signs like sleep and fitness activity. These devices are relatively new, so their accuracy is not as well documented as other wearable devices currently on the market.
- Chest Strap Devices – These heart rate monitoring devices include a strap with electrical detection sensors that wraps around your chest. Water and conductive gel improve electrical conduction, which aids the device’s accuracy. Therefore, the strap must be wet, or a conductive gel must be used where the sensors contact skin.
- Wearable ECG Monitors – A wearable electrocardiogram device, also known as a wearable ECG, is a device that monitors cardiovascular health by evaluating the electrical activity of the heart. Because these wearable devices are easy to use and relatively inexpensive, they can help patients by facilitating early diagnosis of certain heart conditions and lowering their rates of doctor visits.
IoT Devices
Internet of Things (IoT) devices are tools such as machines, sensors, gadgets, and/or appliances that can transmit data over the internet. In healthcare, they are utilized for important tasks such as remote patient monitoring. IoT devices automatically collect health metrics such as temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate from patients remotely without the need to physically be seen in a healthcare facility. This allows patients to collect the data themselves while also forwarding the data to healthcare professionals for their review. Algorithms analyze the data and may recommend treatments and health alerts. For example, an IoT sensor can detect unusually high blood pressure and inform healthcare professionals so they can intervene accordingly.
IoT devices can also help with glucose monitoring, which can be difficult for the millions of Americans with diabetes who must consistently check their glucose levels. A patient’s glucose levels have traditionally been manually recorded, which may not be sufficient to detect a problem if levels are widely fluctuating. IoT devices address these challenges by automatically and continuously monitoring glucose levels and alerting patients when the levels are concerning. The small size of the devices makes them nondisruptive to patients and do not consume as much energy as other glucose monitoring systems.
Lastly, IoT devices can also be used for tasks such as hand hygiene monitoring and depression/mood monitoring. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities utilize hand hygiene monitoring devices to help remind staff to sanitize their hands before entering hospital rooms. As for mood monitoring, there are IoT devices that collect and analyze data like blood pressure, heart rate, and movement of the eyes to infer a person’s mental state. While these devices cannot predict depression systems or other concerns with complete accuracy, neither can traditional in-person mental assessments since a person’s feelings are entirely self-reported. Regardless, it is a valuable tool that healthcare professionals can use to support in-person data gathering.
Conclusion
Wearable health monitoring and IoT technologies are revolutionizing personal healthcare management by providing real-time, actionable insights about a person’s health. They allow users to track vital signs, sleep patterns, and physical activities with accuracy and convenience. Because of this, these devices enable proactive and personalized care like never before. As these technologies continue to evolve and be used together with in-person health assessments, our ability to monitor, understand, and improve health will make way for a future in which personalized, data-driven health management is even more accessible and effective.
