Heart rate variability – what to know about this biometric most fitness trackers measure
Tiny fluctuations in the time between each beat of your heart can provide clues about how much stress your body is experiencing.
Dec. 26, 2022 • ~8 min
Tiny fluctuations in the time between each beat of your heart can provide clues about how much stress your body is experiencing.
The coronavirus pandemic has driven a lot of scientific progress in the past year. But just as some of the social changes are likely here to stay, so are some medical innovations.
Wearables already monitor our physical health – is it time for them to track our mental health too?
Researchers are developing tattoo inks that do more than make pretty colors. Some can sense chemicals, temperature and UV radiation, setting the stage for tattoos that diagnose health problems.
Fitness information like resting heart rate collected by wearable devices can't diagnose diseases, but it can signal when something is wrong. That can be enough to prompt a COVID-19 test.
Smartphone apps and wearable devices can tell when workers have been within six feet of each other, promising to help curb the coronavirus. But they're not all the same when it comes to privacy.
Lightweight, flexible materials can be used to make health-monitoring wearable devices, but powering the devices is a challenge. Using fuel cells instead of batteries could make the difference.
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