Fitness
From fitness trackers to lifesavers: The future of wearable health-tech – Healthcare News
By Rajneesh Bhandari
The adoption of wearables in healthcare has reached a critical point, offering continuous monitoring of health
Also read: How generative AI is revolutionising the wearables industry
Wearables are proving invaluable in chronic disease management. For example, people with diabetes can use Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs), which provide real-time blood sugar readings. These devices, integrated with AI-enabled Apps, enable users to make informed lifestyle
Wearable technology can make healthy living a cult and help reduce chronic and lifestyle diseases. Devices like the Oura Ring and Whoop Strap have become cults, with millions of users worldwide. The global wearable fitness tracker market
AI-enabled sensors can detect or monitor life-threatening events and diseases. Devices with accelerometers can detect falls and automatically alert caregivers. Atrial fibrillation is a difficult-to-detect, irregular heartbeat impacting over 60 million globally that can lead to various heart-related complications, including blood clots and stroke. Wearable ECG monitors help detect abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation, preventing complications such as strokes. Wrist-worn sensors can detect epilepsy seizures and alert caregivers. Wearables will take monitoring out of the hospital and into the home. Biosensors and sweat sensors can detect and monitor illnesses, including congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, and infections, significantly enhancing early detection and treatment outcomes.
In the long term, your voice AI assistant will become your early diagnostician, reviewing a constant flow of medical data from your wearables and detecting any concerning conditions as soon as possible.
The potential of wearables extends beyond individual health benefits; they also hold promise for public health and research. Anonymized aggregated data from millions of people can provide valuable insights into population health trends, actionable public health interventions, outbreaks, and even pandemics. Data from wearables will also be built into health insurance
In the future, seamless and omnipresent integration of AI-enabled wearables and sensors into healthcare will be a game-changer, enhancing patient engagement, enabling early disease detection, promoting healthier lifestyles, significantly lowering long-term healthcare costs, and improving individual health outcomes.
(The author is Managing Director, NeuroEquilibrium. Views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily those of financialexpress.com.)