Wearable Personal Health Monitoring

Introduction

According to Bajarin in the world of tech, most successful products address serious needs that people have. This is very much the case behind the current movement to create all types of wearable devices designed to make people healthier [1]. Making health roving along with user, less focused concern and stylishly worn has claimed the industry of wearable health monitoring. ABI Research last year estimated that the market for wearable health-related devices--ranging from heart monitors to biosensors that read body temperature and motion--will reach more than 100 million device sales annually by 2016. The market for wearable sports and fitness-related monitoring devices is growing, too, projected to reach 80 million device sales by 2016 [2]. Primary concern of this article is to provide a brief introduction on some existing wearable health monitoring tools.

 

Smart Watches

Watches can be recognized as the most convenient wearable device that is more closer to people. Current technology has taken ordinary day to day used watch to become smart and ability to perform multiple tasks rather than simply displaying the time. Their capabilities of integrating with smart devices has diluted the problem of storage, connectivity and processing therefore smart watches are now ready to be a health monitor for you.
Fitness monitoring, Heartbeat monitoring, Step counting, Distance calculating, Calorie burn calculations are some of the functionalities that are undertaken by these devices. Samsung gear Fit, Google gem, LG G watch and etc can be found as current technology ready wearable health monitoring solutions which is out and will be reaching the market within 2014. Here is a review given by a user on the usage of Samsung gear fit and LG G watch device on how it is used and its functionalities.

Samsung Gear Fit Review [3]

 LG G Watch Review [4]

 

Wearable Patient Monitoring

When it comes to personal safety it is also primarily focused on getting who are not able under the eye of some person 24*7. In order to do so monitoring them remotely and keeping track of their healthiness is required to be a major concern. In such cases giving them something to wear and ability to get the feedback and their real time health status is crucial. Devices introduced by 9solutions can keep the track of patients and also provide automatic responses to changes of conditions by acknowledging the relevant parties who has a concern on the particular patient such as nurses, loved ones and etc.
Hospital patients often are tethered to various monitors, pumps, and medical gear. The IntelliVue MX40 from Philips Electronics tries to simplify some of that by putting Philips telemetry into a compact wearable patient monitor that can be used to monitor ambulatory patients and patients during transport [2]. This is a lightweight device which can monitor ECG, OXYGEN saturation and other vital signals from the patient with a simple push of a button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GY7099Tc2o

Philips MX40 Product Video [5]

 

Wear them on body

Activity trackers which can be worn as bands and clip on to what you wear are the next piece of heterogeneous technological factor that is concerned. They are mainly focused just on providing personal health monitoring therefore they are concerned dedicated to health. As a part of this they can be worn as arm bands, clip on to your cloth wearing and wear them as a full kit to sync health status with your own self and other related peers who are connected with you.
Fitbit is another popular wearable activity tracker that, compared to Up, is slightly more favorable in the pricing department at $99. The small, lightweight device clips onto your clothing (and is meant to be worn somewhere on the torso) or fits into an elastic armband when sleeping [6]. Personal calorie usage and sleeping detection can be monitored using this device.

 Fitbit Force: Sleek, powerful, flexible fitness tracking [7]

Also along with this there are products introduced from BodyMedia that is also a technology which is capable of providing health related monitoring also the fabrics developed by BodyMedia is very flexible with providing health personal health related feedback.

Figure 1 : Body Media and Avery Deninson body motion monitoring patch.

Also there are some other wearables that can be used as wear them on body categories specially designed for health which is a long list and would like to keep them for the comments and to continue this particular discussion further.

 

Mobile Apps

Nowadays for almost everything there is a app. It seem like we can’t lose them out of concern. Even when it relates to personal health there are application developed by several developers. They vary from maternity, child care, first aid, exercise and health tips to even towards how to face certain surgeries type of applications which are taking on the market.
RunKeeper is a Android and iOS app is one of the strongest in the category of those that look to turn your smartphone into a personal trainer. RunKeeper is part motivator, part tracker and (long-term) part health graph [6].

 Run Keeper - Tracks you via GPS so you can keep track of your exercise [8].

Lift is a great-looking iPhone app that’s operating behind an ambitious goal: Improving human potential. The Obvious-incubated and now venture-backed startup wants to help you reach your goal, whether that’s getting in shape, living healthier, becoming more productive, or being more kind to animals or your mother in law [6].

Lift iPhone App Review [9]

 

Conclusion

Here in this article I have provided only a glimpse of wearable health monitoring techniques with some of their examples. It is a known fact that adapting to the technology the devices and methods definitely coincides with new and various varieties of technologies. Therefore the discussion thread is open to enhance my ideas and findings with your own set of findings and thoughts.

 

References

[1]. Where Wearable Health and Fitness Gadgets Are Headed - TIME. 2014. Where Wearable Health and Fitness Gadgets Are Headed - TIME. [ONLINE] Available at: http://time.com/2938202/health-fitness-gadgets/.
[2]. 10 Wearable Devices To Keep Patients Healthy - InformationWeek. 2014. 10 Wearable Devices To Keep Patients Healthy - InformationWeek. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/10-wearable-devices-to-keep-patients-healthy/d/d-id/1104359.
[3]. Samsung Gear Fit Review - YouTube. 2014. Samsung Gear Fit Review - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytOhOYTyKc.
[4]. LG G Watch Review - YouTube. 2014. LG G Watch Review - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_RE5bjdcE.
[5]. Philips MX40 Product Video - YouTube. 2014. Philips MX40 Product Video - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GY7099Tc2o.
[6]. The Ultimate Guide To The 50+ Hottest Health And Fitness Apps, Gadgets And Startups Of The Year | TechCrunch. 2014. The Ultimate Guide To The 50+ Hottest Health And Fitness Apps, Gadgets And Startups Of The Year | TechCrunch. [ONLINE] Available at: http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/02/best-health-apps/.
[7]. Fitbit Force: Sleek, powerful, flexible fitness tracking - YouTube. 2014. Fitbit Force: Sleek, powerful, flexible fitness tracking - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxb1UQPrS2Y.
[8]. Run Keeper - Tracks you via GPS so you can keep track of your exercise. - YouTube. 2014. Run Keeper - Tracks you via GPS so you can keep track of your exercise. - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QE-h1IiI4g.

[9]. Lift iPhone App Review - YouTube. 2014. Lift iPhone App Review - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjMMArrDcCw. [Accessed 18 August 2014].

Neurogaming initiatives towards improving mental health

Neurogaming ?

Neurogaming is a method of getting mind and body to get together in order to perform non-invasive BCI to improve gaming experiences of the gamers. Evolution of this process has made a new controller interface for the gamers to interact with the gaming environment. Neurogaming can identify brain waves, heart rate, pupil dilation and emotions as inputs and the feedback mechanism provided by the user to the system. The main advantage of these kind of gaming is that it retains the users attention on the game and develops interactivity straight with user to provide realistic gaming experience. Also interactions with mind are captured using BCI interfaces.

When focusing on mental health kind of applications of neurogaming it can be developed towards improving attention of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) diagnosed patients. According to Zach Lynch managing director NeuroInsights  “NeuroGaming is not just about having brain control over games. It’s about having your entire nervous system connected to the gaming experience, bringing together all of your senses as drivers and outputs through a gaming system.” Proves us that this will drive the user for a total wellness of his body and mind control which will eventually result in improved mental health.

Neurogaming and mental health

When it is referred to mental health BCI related devices involved in neurogaming devices does a vital job in reading mental status of a particular person in the realtime gaming environment.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD)

is a psychiatric disorder of the neurodevelopmental type in which there are significant problems of attention, hyperactivity, or acting impulsively that are not appropriate for a person's age (wikipedia 2014). This may result in making a certain person to be neglected from the environment he stays on. ADHD management usually involves some combination of counseling, lifestyle changes, and medications. The neurogaming approaches has paved a way to interact directly with their mind and body in order to keep them focused on a particular activity at one time. Neurogaming applications and BCIs in future will may come up with separate applications which causes them to get their heads of the situation that they are currently. This is because the gaming environment can get feedback on whether the user is focused on the game or his mind is driving away from the situation.

As an additional resource I found an interesting video which talks about how to identify whether you have ADHD.

Figure 1: How to know If You Have ADHD

Bio/Neurofeedback for mental relaxation

Bio/Neurofeedback can be used as a method of identifying the capacity of mental relaxation of a gaming user. While changing the gaming experience the devices can get readings of user to evaluate the mental relaxation of a particular subject. These can be used to provide treatments on sleep problems, teeth grinding, insomnia, autism and chronic pain.

Figure 2 : Extraction of bio/neurofeedback

This shows that the outputs provided while using neurogaming by  diagnosed user can also be sent on to a therapists directly to provide with required medical attention and to come up with mental status readings. This provides the therapist to understand the real mental status of the subject.

Devices which may turn into mind reading neurogaming devices
The Devices that are below are in the state of emerging as giants in the application use of neurogaming devices which are to come in future. 

Google Glass

Figure 3 : Google Glass Games

Ocolus Rift

Figure 4 : Oculus rift + Omni gaming experience

References

Mini-Games for Glass - YouTube. 2014. Mini-Games for Glass - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9naxeHGIaRY. [Accessed 01 May 2014]
E-mental health: digital, mobile and tele tech for the brain! | Scoop.it . 2014. E-mental health: digital, mobile and tele tech for the brain! | Scoop.it . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.scoop.it/t/e-mental-health-digital-mobile-and-tele-tech-for-the-brain. [Accessed 01 May 2014].
Will Neurogaming Speed Our Understanding of the Mind/Body Connection? | DrBonnie360. 2014. Will Neurogaming Speed Our Understanding of the Mind/Body Connection? | DrBonnie360. [ONLINE] Available at: http://drbonnie360.com/post/50661853357/will-neurogaming-speed-our-understanding-of-the. [Accessed 01 May 2014].
Google Glass now has games | Joystiq. 2014. Google Glass now has games | Joystiq. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/02/google-glass-now-has-games/. [Accessed 01 May 2014].
Omni + Rift = True VR (TF2) - YouTube. 2014. Omni + Rift = True VR (TF2) - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qpHWJMytx5I. [Accessed 01 May 2014].