… the device uses wrist-based cadence for measuring speed and distance in walking and running activities. Which means that you can track speed and distance indoors, too. No built-in GPS, though.
In addition to the fairly standard 24/7 activity metrics, Suunto Fitness 3 taps into your heart-rate variability data to detect all-day stress. While we’ve seen this with some Garmin devices, the device is taking it up a notch by placing this information into the context of your body’s resources.
Apple’s heart rate monitoring technology has come under fire after Anne Arbor, Michigan-based Omni MedSci filed a lawsuit against the tech giant for patent infringement. The suit — which was filed in US District Court, Eastern District Texas, Marshall Division — alleges that Apple willfully infringed on patent pending laser technology developed by Omni MedSci’s principal, Dr. Mohammed Islam, that measures physiological parameters including heart rate.
Unsure how to train with your heart rate monitor and get the maximum benefit from its data? Joe Friel explains how to train effectively and efficiently with a heart rate monitor, using heart rate zones
If you ever dreamed of being a real-life cyborg, researchers at Stanford University are ready and willing to help. They developed a new type of tiny nerve-stimulation implant, which could be used to treat a wide range of different medical conditions.
“The biggest application for this work is for what are being recently called ‘electroceuticals’ and ‘bioelectronic medicine,’” Jayant Charthad, a researcher on the project, told Digital Trends. “The idea is that many diseases that are currently treated using drugs or pills can be more effectively treated — and with fewer side-effects — by using stimulation of nerves. Examples of diseases that can be treated by nerve stimulation include chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, bladder incontinence, even diabetes, and many more. In addition to therapeutic applications, medical researchers could also use our device for conducting scientific experiments for further understanding the nervous system and discovering new treatments for diseases.”
The non-invasive patch is said to draw glucose from fluid between cells across hair follicles, which are accessed via an array of miniature sensors using a small electric current. The glucose then collects in reservoirs and is measured. Details are published in Nature Nanotechnology.
Having established proof of the concept behind the device, the researchers hope it can eventually become a low-cost, wearable sensor that sends regular, clinically relevant glucose measurements to the wearer’s phone or smartwatch wirelessly, alerting them when they may need to take action.
According to Bath University, an important advantage of this device is that each miniature sensor of the array can operate on a small area over an individual hair follicle, which significantly reduces inter- and intra-skin variability in glucose extraction and increases the accuracy of the measurements taken. Because of this, calibration via a blood sample is not required.
When we think of wearables, we often think of devices clinging to our bodies. Smartwatches and fitness trackers – sometimes even headgear or glasses – that are tracking our vitals with state-of-the-art sensors. Which new gadgets can enable what new data? How advanced and accurate are the sensors within them?
The University of Southern California’s Center for Body Computing believes that software is more important than hardware. Its executive director and founder, Dr Leslie Saxon, tells Wareable that – ultimately – most sensors in devices are going to become medical-grade. What’ll separate devices is what powers them.
The crown jewel of the CBC is the Virtual Care Clinic, which not only pulls in students from departments around USC’s campus, but a number of companies, like VSP and smart pill maker Proteus. It is constantly absorbing new technologies, from telemedicine to VR, and incorporating them into its central mission: the protected free flow of healthcare information around the world.
Whether singin’ in the rain like Gene Kelly or playing guitar in a purple-tinted version of it like Prince, the best way to stay dry in a downpour is to wear a raincoat. While raincoats have evolved in the 195 years since waterproof fabric was first patented, clever chemistry has always been key to their success.
The first raincoats came about thanks to innovations in making rubber solutions. Today, high-end rainwear relies on fluoropolymer materials and cutting-edge construction. Raincoats may have been a risky business venture in the 1800s, but in the 21st century, their sales are booming: The market for waterproof breathable textiles could reach $2.18 billion in revenue by 2022, according to a report from market research firm Global Market Insights. Health-conscious consumers are driving much of the market’s growth as they run, bike, and trek in all types of weather.
The rainy weather in his native Scotland is what likely inspired chemist Charles Macintosh, the man most commonly credited with inventing the modern raincoat. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. In the U.K., raincoats are still called mackintoshes (with a k mysteriously added).
When we think about smart clothing – the types you can buy and wear today – it’s ok to feel torn. Smart bikinis and jackets for controlling our music can seem superfluous at best, and while there is a health and fitness thread running though some of these garments, they’re rarely more insightful than any other wearable.
For Venk Varadan, the approach is all wrong. His company Nanowear has invented a medical-grade textile that can capture millions of signals on the skin, with the potential to unlock the types of biometric insights that would make your Fitbit green with envy. But it’s probably not for you. At least not yet.
Appalachian State University, Appalachian Today from
What do banana metabolites and ibuprofen have in common? In a new study completed by Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Laboratory and published March 22 in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, both were found to inhibit COX-2 mRNA expression.
The study, “Metabolic recovery from heavy exertion following banana compared to sugar beverage or water only ingestion: A randomized, crossover trial,” contrasted banana ingestion during exercise to water alone or a six percent sugar beverage, which is similar to a sports drink.
The study showed that banana carbohydrates work equally to a sports drink to fuel athletes and help them with recovery. New metabolic findings revealed that banana metabolites potentially mimic how ibuprofen works to reduce pain and swelling, and how they help the immune system function effectively during a metabolically stressful time such as intense exercise.
… Sufferfest beer, based in San Francisco and founded by runner Caitlin Landesberg, is gluten-removed beer specifically designed by athletes, for athletes. I was initially a bit nervous that this could be some fruity beer / sports-drink concoction that would leave me fairly upset. Quite the opposite, this gluten-removed brew is tasty and stood on its own as good, quality beer.
If you want to take a good stroll down memory lane, new research suggests you’d better get out of that chair more often.
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have found that in people middle-aged and older, a brain structure that is key to learning and memory is plumpest in those who spend the most time standing up and moving. At every age, prolonged sitters show less thickness in the medial temporal lobe and the subregions that make it up, the study found.
The struggle to understand a continent whose fate affects millions of people worldwide, yet is fearsomely hard to study.
Science has long played an outsized role in Antarctica. Nations wishing to help run the continent, which has no indigenous people or central government, have had to prove their commitment to scientific research since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961, turning the remote white expanse into a gigantic natural laboratory.
Antarctic scientists discovered the hole in the ozone layer, along with ice cores that shed new light on the planet’s climate history. Yet for most of the 20th century, Antarctica was widely thought to be frozen in time.
… The 5 Principles serve the purpose of explaining why this logical sequence takes hold, and are based on specific insights from the fields of cognitive science, psychology and bio-functional studies of the human brain. I’m also providing links for each of these principles to more in-depth articles that explain more about the supporting research.
Principle #1 – Humanized Data Should be Visual
Humanized Data should be represented in a compelling visual format that emphasizes comparative analysis, pattern recognition and observation of “big picture” trends.
When it comes to staying hydrated, “just drink when you’re thirsty” has been a rule of thumb for years. Yet a recent study by University of Arkansas researchers may prove that thirst alone is not a reliable indicator of proper hydration levels.
In the study, “Dehydration Impairs Performance, Regardless of Thirst,” published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Stavros Kavouras, director of the Hydration Science Lab at the U of A, and his team studied seven cyclists exercising in hot, dry conditions. The cyclists were “blinded” to their hydration status by the use of a nasogastric tube that delivered body-temperature water directly into their stomachs. One group received adequate water through the tube, and the other group did not. In order to suppress their natural thirst, all of the cyclists were given 25 milliliters of water, about five teaspoons, to drink every five minutes.
Even though they didn’t feel thirsty, the cyclists who were not given adequate water through the nasogastric tube performed worse on speed and power output (as measured on stationary bikes). They also had higher core temperatures than the cyclists given adequate water.