Body-tracking wearables show hope
LAS VEGAS: A ring shimmers on display at the Consumer Electronics Show, but this is no mere piece of jewellery - it is packed with sensors capable of detecting body temperature, respiration and much more.
Amaury Kosman, the founder of the French start-up that created the Circular Ring, said that they wanted to democratise their personal health.
Some experts worry that a trend of stoplessly tracking steps, time sitting, heart rate and more could bring risks of stress and addiction, a goal shared by an array of exhibitors.
The Circular Ring provides a wearer with a daily energy score based on the intensity of their activity, including heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen levels, and other data, according to Kosman.
He said the ring, which will cost less than €300 US $340, will be designed to track the phases of sleep, how long it takes to fall asleep, and how long it takes to align with your circadian rhythm at night.
It vibrates in the morning to wake you up at the right time. A mobile application synced to the ring is designed to make personalised lifestyle recommendations for improving health based on data collected, according to the founder.
Demand for body-tracking wearables is strong, CES organisers predict that more than $14 billion will be spent this year in a category that includes sports tech, health-monitoring devices, fitness activity trackers, connected exercise equipment and smartwatches.
That figure is more than double what was spent in the category in 2018.
The growth has been driven by smart watches such as those made by powerhouses Apple and Samsung, as well as Internet-linked sports gear that boomed during the Pandemic and personal tracking devices.
Companies are trying to fill a need for instruments that can be relied on as part of a pandemic-driven trend of remote health care.
Swiss Biospectal taps into smartphone cameras to measure blood pressure when a finger is placed over a lens.
French Quantiq is developing algorithms that calculate heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure from selfies. Japanese start-up Quantum Operation has developed a prototype bracelet that continuously measures the level of glucose in the blood. Diabetic patients would be spared needle jabs for frequent blood sugar tests.
Body-minding wearables can provide valuable health data, but some fear a quantified self trend is blurring the line between well-being and stressful obsession.
South Korean firm Olive Healthcare displayed a Bello infrared scanner that analyzes stomach fat and suggests how to lose it, along with a Fitto device that assesses muscle mass and ways to increase it.
The society needs to determine whether these kinds of tools solve problems or give rise to new dependencies, according to German political scientist Nils-Eyk Zimmermann.
A danger is that the digital self generated by such technology does not match reality, according to Zimmermann, who blogs on the topic.
He saw dangers in game features, such as rewards and peer competition, that put pressure on users that may not be healthy.
Withings' US sales director Paul Buckley said people can handle health data made available from devices such as the Body Scan smart scale, unveiled at CES by the French company.
Buckley said he doesn't think it's too much, because he showed off a scale capable of performing electrocardiograms and analysing body composition.
You're able to be informed about what's going on in your body.