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Hi-tech gadgets for health
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There’s a growing range of gizmos that makes it easy to keep track of your health at home
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PHOTO: M. KARUNAKARAN
MONITOR YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE It’s so simple; you can do it at home.
Move out those old thermometers and bathroom scales. If you have a “good sense of health”, you’ll stack your shelves with a catalogue of hi-tech gadgets to home-monitor your health. A growing market has helped health gizmos morph in
to consumer products giving “Look inward; be honest with yourself” a whole new meaning.
“I sell at least a 100 BP monitors a month,” said Raghavendra Rao, MD, Alpride Healthcare, distributor for Omron products. “It’s the good-to-know principle that a lot of IT guys go in for.” His sleek, top-of-the-chart model uses intellisense technology to flash your BP horoscope at just a touch. It detects body movement (?) and irregular heartbeat, stores 90 readings and displays the average of the last three.
The body fat monitor is a cool guy, even if brutally honest. You step on the slim base, feed in your data and hold up a handle with a display panel. A mild current passes through you (no, you don’t feel a thing). Ready? Out come your body fat percentage, body mass index, basal metabolic rate, and a graphic interpretation of your body type — a shocker, but a “hot favourite with dieticians and sportspersons.”
Another “fast-moving item” is the compressor nebuliser (for respiratory disorders) with a rechargeable battery. It’s travel-friendly, boasts of virtual valve technology that delivers medication in small doses, to the last drop. Its ultrasonic cousin runs for 72 hours and has a humidifier.
Don’t need them? Ah, you’ll want to clip on the pedometer when you step out for your jog. It counts your normal and aerobic steps, displays distance and duration of walk (wow!), tells you of the fat and calories burnt (celebrate with ice-cream!) and has a 7-day memory. Coming up the medical horizon are portable defibrillators, ultrasound waves-based glucose monitors, hand-held breast scanners (iFind) and that treat for geeks — HealthPia’s glucophone (cellphone that doubles as glucometer).
“Healthcare-at-home is a new approach to lifestyle,” said Rao. “It’s good idea to check your BP in the morning when the risk of stroke is high.” Of course you consult a doctor before you start the self-monitoring routine. “Readings from our machines are accepted by doctors.”
“Individual blood glucose meters have been around for 35 years,” said Dr. V. Mohan, diebetologist. “After years of blood-guzzling draculas that were error-prone, the tech got better, the machine smaller, the strip thinner. For diabetics a glucose meter is a must at home.
Frequent checking is necessary to manage diabetes. We teach and empower the patient to handle sugar intake and insulin doses.” BP patients need monitors too. Checking is done at different times of the day, to record a series.
He also recommends pedometers. “I use one. Gives me the accurate distance when I do my laps around the park.”
“With changed lifestyles, it’s good to be aware of your health parameters,” said Dr. Sathianathan, Director, Institute of Mental Health. “We must encourage and appreciate that people have become health conscious.”
How reliable are these gizmos? Dr. Mohan agrees that home glucometers follow a different method and might show a 5-10 per cent discrepancy. “That’s negligible,” he insisted. But he warned of faulty BP monitors. “Never buy a BP monitor that wraps around the wrist. It’s useless. Buy gadgets that have WHO or other international approval."
GEETA PADMANABHAN
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