High tech meets health

With the new year just over a month young, one wonders what new technologies are awaiting us on our journey towards 2019. The one exhibition that trumps all in this category is the annual Consumer Electronic Show which happens in early January in Las Vega

BREAKING YOUR FALL

The first weird, but amazing device, Helite HipAir, basically looks like those old school fanny or moon bags you used to wear around your waist. This hip pack was designed for the frail and elderly. It is equipped with sensors, air cartridge, air bag and batteries. When your grandmother accidentally loses her balance, which might have been happening quite frequently over the past year, the HipAir sensor picks up that she is about to fall and deploys the hip air bags to cushion her fall.

The French inventor decided a decade ago to work on this invention after he saw the drastic effects a fall had on one of his family members.

Another great invention is the E-vone smart shoe which detects unusual foot movement patterns and then signals to the caregiver to come and assist. This, combined with the HipAir bags, means your granny can get a new lease on life without the fear of falling and getting hurt.

Over the past decade city dwellers have been under serious threat from asthma, sinuses and pollutants and never has there been more medication, nose sprays and inhalers on the market.

You spend countless hours at doctors and specialists and try all the latest concoctions, but you are still searching for the root cause of your irritants. You can easily spend over R5 000 on blood tests, but your medical aid, wallet and sanity just won’t allow it. Nine out 10 hip fractures occur from a fall. 5m hip fractures will occur around the world by 2050 23% older than 55 years of age die within the 1st year 50% of victims lose their autonomy

CLEARING THE AIR

But maybe there’s a simpler solution to your troubles. Meet the Sensio Air Home, which is available in a beautiful bronze football and this one-of-kind technology actually monitors and tracks the air around you.

The Sensio Air Home links up to your smart device and then gives you custom feedback on the pollen levels, pet dander, pollutants, mould and even dust mites in your living areas. The device tracks 210 cities in the world and continually updates you on what is happening in your city. This device is a game-changer, because by knowing your triggers, you can prevent allergens from acting up and thereby regain your freedom of breathing.

HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE

The last bit of tech that caught my eye was the Omron HeartGuide digital watch. Before you sigh and say, “not another digital watch”, this one will be life-changing. This will hopefully be the first FDAapproved watch that not only tells time, but also monitors your blood pressure. Gone will be the days when you have to go to the doctor to get your blood pressure examined because along with the Omron app you will be able to send off data to your local doctor for review and feedback.

This device will produce medical grade results, which means the accuracy level is the same as if you had to get a reading from a medical doctor. The watch will retail for more or less the same price as an Apple watch and comes with all the usual goodies like other step counts, sleep tracking and heart rate monitoring.

With younger people becoming increasingly more stressed and having trouble with high blood pressure, this is the perfect wearable to keep tabs on your health. Omron’s working and additional tech to sync with the watch even measures your ECG, but they have mentioned that this is planned for a future release date. It is exciting to know that the way we conventionally interact with a doctor is changing.

Who says we have to travel to see him, wait delayed minutes or hours in a disease-infested waiting room? And then if you just so happen to fall ill on a public holiday, well then you are on your own. That will all change because the medical technology is coming to you and with a click of a button you will have access to some of the world’s best doctors in the world at all hours of the day or night.