Best Wearable Tech for Health & Fitness

October 8th, 2015

 

Most people associate wearable health tech with a Fitbit or fitness tracker on their wrist, but digital health and wearables are becoming so much more than just tracking your steps. With the growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease it should come as no surprise that the global health market is expected to reach $58.8 billion by 2020. With so many hot market forecasts in IoT, wearables, and mHealth, wearable health technology is on the way to transform medical technology in ways we’ve never thought possible. ABI Research has projected that by 2016, wearable wireless medical device sales will reach more than 100 million devices annually and big companies like IBM, Google, and Apple have all made major mHealth investments within the last few years.

Here are some of our favorite recent (and upcoming) health & fitness wearable innovations:

 

Garmin Forerunner 225

Garmin Forerunner 225With so many running watches on the market, how do you know which one is right for you? There are plenty of great options out there – i.e., Fitbit, TomTom Cardio, and more- but what is especially great about the Garmin Forerunner 225 is its heart rate sensor monitor. Garmin teamed up with heart rate sensor specialist, Mio, to help measure your heart rate in order to provide detailed analytics and a more personalized training session. There is also a sleep tracking option, and it’s even water resistant up to 50 m.

 
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Read more:

 
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Glimpse into the future: 3 ways wireless charging will improve our life in the future

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Novartis’ Smart Contact LensGoogle Diabetes Lens

Google-glass may be over (for now), but Google has been teaming up with Swiss company Novartis to develop a ‘smart’ contact lens which will monitor glucose-levels in diabetics, in addition to vision correction. The lens has a built-in sensor which will be able to detect glucose levels in tear ducts, and an accompanying chip will receive and analyze the sensor data to send it wirelessly to your mobile device.

 

Oxitone

Oxitone WearableUnlike conventional fingertip clips, Oxitone offers a wristband that wirelessly monitors blood oxygen levels in order to monitor heart attacks. It determines if you are about to suffer from cardiac arrest by following the level of oxygen in your blood, and subsequently alerts doctors or family members of any complications. This is especially important for a rapidly growing population. You can also use it for long – term care for doctors, who can access records to see how a patient has fared over time.

 

Wireless Charging for Digital Health Devices

From fitness bands to hearing aids, glucose monitors, and more, as the demand for wearables in the digital health market is growing, so does the need to charge these devices. Luckily, Humavox’s radio frequency wireless charging technology can integrate into the smallest of wearable medical devices, without the hassle of a cord! So you can wirelessly charge all of your health and fitness wearables simultaneously.