The increasing interest in motivational health apps, looks closer to putting greater control in our hands.
Those wishing to keep tabs on their health will soon be able to wear an “intelligent bracelet” to monitor their movement and food intake.
The band, incorporates microchips that monitor the user’s health levels and an accompanying smartphone app, is the latest product exploiting the public’s obsession with measuring everything from how frequently they have sex to how far they take in a day.
Aliph, the US technology firm behind the Jawbone UP bracelet, says it aims to launch it globally later this year. While the manufacturers of the band, which also tracks sleep patterns, claim there are health benefits to personal micro-monitoring, some experts have raised concerns over the reliability of such devices, and whether it is wise to publicise details of one’s bodily functions across the internet.
Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch Europe, said: “Jawbone has a great existing brand name and they have obviously been monitoring the success of other companies within the field.
“The lucrative nature of the health-gadget market has led to the funding they have been able to attract,” he added. “For years venture capitalists have been talking about the power of this sector, and how what was lacking was people’s ability to monitor their own health. The addition of product to smartphones is a killer combination”.
According to Jawbone’s director of European business development, Bandar Antabi, “lifestyle diseases have surpassed communicative diseases as the world’s most common killer”.
“If people adopt a better way of living, they are preventable,” he added. “We are trying to provide a utility to allow people to live healthier lives”.
The Technology lends itself to integration with an online health account, where data can be shared with an individuals trusted health providers and combined with the latest health tools
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