What if your doctor could look over your shoulder every moment of every day? Would she approve of every choice you’ve made? The answer is that she probably wouldn’t, but you may also be less likely to make poor choices if you knew someone was keeping tabs.

Although your doctor isn’t available to monitor you 24/7, wearable technology can provide a similar benefit. Wearable technology can help monitor your health and behavior, so you can decide whether improvements would ultimately result in a healthier version of yourself.

Whether it’s tracking fitness, heartrate, or sleep, wearable technologies can give you the information you need to improve your health.

Get Better Sleep

It’s difficult to know whether your daily exhaustion is from poor sleep or something else. That’s why wearable technology for tracking sleep patterns has become so popular. Apps like the Shine can track how much time you spend in deep sleep versus light sleep. This is extremely helpful because it can help you pinpoint the things that may be keeping you from having a good night’s rest. For example, if you’re trying a new pillow and spend less time in a deep sleep, you may want to go back to the old one.

Improve Your Diet

Most people are looking for some form of help when it comes to healthy eating. And although diet books provide insights, they don’t give the type of personal analysis you can get from a wearable device. BitByte is one wearable that has set out to change the way you eat – literally. This device documents what you eat, assesses the quality of your chewing and gives real-time suggestions.

Reduce Stress

Breathing is an involuntary movement, but it’s one that we often forget to do when stress levels go through the roof. Spire is a wearable app that detects when your body is showing signs of stress and presents you with breathing exercises to help you calm down. Thync is another wearable device that is designed to help alleviate stress, but in a very different way. The device is worn on the forehead and can send waveforms to activate specific nerves on the head that signal the brain to shift to a calm or energized state.

Flag Issues to Address with Your Doctor

Many wearable devices can monitor certain vital signs, such as heartrate, to detect any signs of trouble. It is up to you to share this information with your doctor, but doing so may result in early detection of health issues. Such wearable devices combined with easy-access healthcare like telemedicine help users take control of their health. The Samsung Gear S3, Microsoft Band 2, Apple Watch Series 2 and the FitBit Blaze all have built-in heartrate monitors. Intel has even created earbuds that can detect your heartbeat.

The Apple Watch was the first to successfully bring wearable technology to the masses, and it has shown us that there are many connections between wearable technologies and your health. The Apple Watch provides many of the benefits listed above, but you may want to explore the new world of wearables to see which device best suits your needs.

Author:

Emily is a freelance content writer. She has written for a variety of industries including healthcare, lifestyle, technology, and beauty. When she is not writing, Emily enjoys practicing yoga and running along the beaches in San Diego.