Fitness monitors could tell if you're ill before symptoms start showing
Fitness monitors are clever little things already, monitoring your activity, heart rate and your skin temperature among other things.
And they could spot an illness before symptoms even start showing too, according to a new study.
According to data collected by scientists, the physical things fitness monitors track could also reveal when you’re about to come down with something, as heart rate and skin temperature tends to rise when people become ill.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine created software so that smart watches could detect such deviations.
The study followed 60 people every day, and found that the monitors’ biosensors could flag up when people had colds or more complex conditions such as Lyme disease.
Professor Michael Snyder, professor and chair of genetics at the School noticed such changes as he wore sensors for the study himself, noticing changes in his heart rate and blood oxygen levels on a long flight to Norway.
When his body didn’t recover in the same it usually did, he wasn’t surprised when he soon developed a fever.
Apparently, besides detecting illness, the wearable devices could also help to distinguish participants with insulin resistance – a precursor for Type 2 diabetes.
Snyder said: “We want to tell when people are healthy and also catch illnesses at their earliest stages.”
He continued: “Physicians and third-party payers will demand robust research to help guide how this comprehensive longitudinal personal data should be used in clinical care.
“However, in the long-term I am very optimistic that personal biosensors will help us maintain healthier lives.”
Has your fitness monitor or smartwatch ever picked up on an illness before you have? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.
