Trackers
The market is absolutely flooded with devices designed to track your health, most of which reside on the wearer’s wrist - Abby Ferguson
image by: Kārlis Dambrāns
HWN Suggests
Is Our Obsession With Health Data Making Us Crazy?
In a culture where wellness junkies use apps, websites and wearables to monitor every morsel that passes their lips, every step they take, every beat of their hearts, their sleep cycles, and their fitness progress, we have health insights we’ve never had before. But Dr. George Zgourides, a Texas-based psychologist, family medicine doctor and author of the 2002 book Stop Worrying About Your Health, says these boundless data can contribute to a culture of health anxiety. Increasingly, he’s noticing that people are excessively concerned about health issues to the point that it might be interfering with mental health, work and relationships.
Featured
Why health trackers can push you off the road to wellness
As we know more about our bodies, from wearable tech to data feedback, so our health anxiety increases. So is it better not to know?
Articles of Interest
Apple Keeps Chasing the Ultimate Health-Tracking Watch—but It Could Take Years
The Apple Watch maker is confronting technical puzzles and patent-wielding competitors as it tries to create an all-in-one health wearable.
Forget Wristbands, Health Trackers of the Future Will Be Skin Patches
Thin as a human hair and applied like temporary tattoos, they’ll be able to monitor everything from heartbeats to brain activity to muscle tremors.
How to track your health at home
Here’s a look at four of the most useful at-home devices for assessing different aspects of your health, including expert advice on choosing and using them. We also highlight a few other self-assessment tools that are worth considering. One important caveat, experts say: Even diligent home monitoring can’t replace a trusted clinician. These tools “have the highest value when they’re used together with guidance from your health-care provider,” Kullgren says.
Like It Or Not, Personal Health Technology Is Getting Smarter
With sensors that can collect data on body movements, heart rate, blood pressure and other metrics, the list of health trackers that go beyond activity trackers like Fitbits gets longer each year. Some of these devices will lead to a better health care system, Kvedar predicts, with cheaper, more efficient care. But that will take separating useful devices and data from superfluous ones — no easy task. And not everyone believes the changes that personal health trackers are bringing will be good. The clinical accuracy and privacy of many devices remain unproved... Unlike with medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, there's no approval process requiring the makers of consumer electronics that are designed for "personal tracking" to meet a medical-grade quality standard.
Self-tracking your health data
When you were growing up, the closest you ever got to a personal medical data-collection device was probably a thermometer, or a bathroom scale. But these days, health trackers are a lot more sophisticated – and a lot more wearable.
These are the best fitness trackers for achieving your health goals
Whether you're traveling or training, our top picks score high points for recording sleep, steps, and more.
Virtual Health Care, Digital Fitness: Consumers Connect for Wellness
From attending virtual health visits to tracking fitness activities on smart phones, consumers are relying on digital technologies to improve well-being
Wearable fitness trackers are making us anxious—here’s how to stop it
From heart rate monitoring to sleep data, wearable devices are revolutionizing health. But at what cost?
