The Health | December, 2019
20
Tech & Innovation
Keeping watch
of your health
The tech we put on our wrists now completes the
smart health ecosystem
I
n 2014, the market was introduced
to a new form of technology – smart-
watches. The stylish, technologically
compact devices plays a huge role in
improving the lives of many. Essen-
tially, they are worn for style and to act
as an extension of your phone. The watches
are able to receive and manage phone calls
and messages, control your phone remotely
and manage payment.
However, there’s more to just having a
small phone on your risk. The vast majority
of smartwatches features a wide array of
health tracking apps to assist in your daily
activities and the duration of your passive
and sedentary period of your day. Here are
some of the basic functions of a smart watch
that you will find useful for your everyday
life.
Activity tracker
Utilising the same pedometer present in
most phones, the wrist accessory has the
capability to measure the amount of steps
taken in a day and translate that amount into
distance, calorie burnt, and fatigue level.
While the accuracy of the pedometer is
still questionable, it does not change the fact
that it has the motivational power to get you
to walk and see the number increase with
every step.
In addition, features such as sedentary
reminder that buzzes you if you’re sitting too
long are one of the built-in features in even
the most basic smartwatch.
A feature that is most useful for those
with a sedentary work nature. After staring
too long at a computer, your watch will send
a reminder for you to get up and move.
Heart rate monitor
for the sport buffs
Based on a difficult to pronounce technology
called photoplethysmography (PPG), smart
watches are able to read the wearer’s heart-
beat and the amount of blood and oxygen
flowing under the skin.
The PPG is a technical term for shining
light into the skin and measuring the light
scattered in the blood flow according to the
user’s heartbeat, oxygen level and blood
pressure.
The heart rate is an essential indicating
component of the intensity of how much
your body works during a workout and its
physiological adaptation.
While it may not possess a 100 per cent
accuracy, the estimation can help you read
the spike of heart beat increment especially
when you are working out.
Sleep monitoring
The quality of your sleep directly affect your
mental and physical state. This include pro-
ductivity, emotional balance, and the brain
and heart functions among other. The smart
watch tracks your sleeping pattern, when
your sleep is interrupted and the amount of
sleep you get for a night.
While the technology is far from substi-
Perhaps one of the most popular
brand of smartwatch is the Apple
Watch, which offer wearers the
ability to check their heart rates
with considerable accuracy.
tuting professional sleep study, the function
can assist in identifying the optimum sleep-
ing pattern and set goals to help you sleep
to help your body function better during the
day.
HIGH WRIST
TECH: Most
smartwatches offer a
stylish, futuristic look
with fitness-centric
features.
Sport assist
Some watches are designed for sport
enthusiast. The interphase and software is
programmed to read your body condition in
specific activities. With advanced training
feedback to improve your exercise routine,
one can achieve the optimum workout ses-
sion with the assistance of these stylish wrist
equipment.
In addition, having a smartwatch while
you exercise is like having a small trainer to
help you with your workout regime.
Not to mention a GPS tracker to help you
locate where you are while you are out on the
run. Meanwhile, the smartphone connectiv-
ity and accessibility of a smartwatch gives
you more freedom to move without having
your bulky device in your pocket.
Data synchronisation for monitoring and
analysis
The data received will be stored in your
connected phone to help you device and plan
your workout regime better. Some features
help you track the amount of activities in a
week and will notify you in case you happen
to slack off.
These are the added value of a smart
watch to help you improve your physical
and mental health. It also completes a set of
health-related ecosystem we can utilise for
the good of our wellbeing.
While the reading and data that
comes from your smartwatch may not
be taken to replace a real professional’s
advice, it is good to have an idea to have an
estimation on where your limit is and smart-
watches are useful for such purposes. — The
Health