Pros of wearable technology
Wearable technology already provides many benefits to wearers, from tracking your daily movements to notifying you of your next appointment, but that’s not all. Let’s take a closer look at some of the great things wearable tech can help us with:
1. Wearable technology supports healthcare
Regardless of age or gender wearable tech can help monitor your health more easily.
In addition to lots of the features that come as standard on some wearable tech such as heart rate, stress and sleep levels, you can also get specific healthcare wearable technology too.
If you’ve got concerns about your heart health, wearable heart rate monitors might be able to help you to monitor things like heart rate irregularities, so that your healthcare provider can support any treatment plans. You can even get implantable wearable tech for your heart too if you need it. Pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are designed to monitor and help control heart rate, and could even help restart your heart if it stops working properly.
Wearable technology is being developed to help sufferers of specific chronic diseases. For example, there are devices that can help with the monitoring of Parkinson’s disease patients between doctors’ visits. Watch-like devices are worn to provide lots of useful information to the specialist, who can use these findings to help manage what care individuals with Parkinson’s might require. They also have the ability to alert the wearer to take their medication.
If you have any health concerns that you think could be monitored better with technology, always seek advice from a qualified medical professional first.
2. Wearable technology is easy to use
Although wearable technology has been around for decades, today devices are much easier to integrate. They’re lighter, smarter and more comfortable than ever to wear. They’re also easy to setup, as most devices either seamlessly integrate with your smart phone or work independently. Most wearables, if not all, offer easy portability and increased user friendliness.
3. Wearable technology is great for older people
Getting older can increase the risk of failing health and chances of slips and trips. It’s hard not to worry about your loved ones if they live alone. People on their own, especially older people, could find that using wearable technology not only gives them added independence, but can also give their families the reassurance that they can get help quickly if they need it.
There are a variety of different wearables that could help more vulnerable people, and these include things like medical alert systems with built in fall detection that automatically contacts the emergency services if necessary.
Most smart watches have features to provide reminders and even voice commands to set alarms for important times such as when to take medication. You can even get devices with larger screens and simple controls for people with visual or dexterity impairments.
4. Wearable technology increases productivity
Wearable technology could help to increase your productivity. Using things like voice commands to set reminders, dictate notes and even make lists all hands free can save you loads of time.
They’re also able to reduce distractions and improve communication by being able to glance at your wearable to see your schedule instead of having to take your phone out of your pocket or log onto desktop applications to check. You can avoid distractions too by being selective about what notifications come through to your wearable tech.
5. Wearable technology encourages fitness in the workplace – and at home
Using wearables to track fitness goals can be very beneficial for your wellbeing. The data collected from your wearable device can encourage you and your colleagues to exercise more and promote a bit of healthy competition. Lots of organisations have wellness programs for to you to sync your progress to. If your workplace doesn’t have one, you could challenge your work colleagues, or even friends and family using a variety of different fitness apps.
6. Wearable technology supports safe working practices
Wearable tech can help with safe working practices, they can be used to monitor worker fatigue and notify you to take a break.
You can also have ‘smart’ personal protective equipment; glasses with heads up displays and hard hats with sensors. It gives employees a set of watchful eyes to ensure the health and wellbeing of the workforce.
