Can Your Fitness Tracker Detect When You're Getting Sick? By Dr. Mercola. Fitness trackers have come a long way since the original wristband that tracked your steps. Today’s models can track steps, monitor your sleep, give you GPS location, monitor heart rate and even your VO2 max data for runners. There is a model on the market to meet your specific needs. With 3. 00 joints in your body, you’re capable of twisting, turning, bending and moving through three planes in space. Unfortunately, many spend the day sitting, increasing their risk of heart disease, diabetes and early death, even after a daily workout. Exercise plays a critical role in both your immune system and your overall health and wellness.

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Originally designed to help motivate movement throughout the day, or track your workout routine, today’s fitness trackers now have the ability to monitor your health and may even give you fair warning when you’re starting to get sick. Your Fitness Tracker May Warn You’re Getting Sick. A recent study, published from Stanford University, found over- the- counter fitness trackers may share enough data with the user to warn of an impending illness.

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Last updated on September 9, 2011 By M.D. Teens with way too much time on their hands struggling to entertain themselves is a hallmark of summer. This can be a bad thing when those teens take their cues from. What the 'Crack Baby' Panic Reveals About The Opioid Epidemic. Journalism in two different eras of drug waves illustrates how strongly race factors into empathy and. Recent research identifies several measurements taken by fitness trackers that may help you identify when you're getting sick.

Recognition and treatment of illness and disease early in development may reduce the overall physical and financial burden to the individual, family and community. Researchers recorded over 2. Changes in baseline heart rate and temperature measurements indicating oncoming illness were detected, sometimes before the individual recognized feeling sick. The study was prompted by lead author and geneticist Michael Snyder, Ph.

D., after evaluating his own genetic profile and determining he was at high risk for type 2 diabetes. Strapping up to eight different monitors on himself and over 4. Snyder measured and analyzed the data. Snyder commented: 7“Too much of the time we spend time measuring people when they’re sick. What we really want to understand is what does it mean to define a healthy state, then quickly identify deviations from that state. I think the wearables are going to be a big part of that.”Information about weight, heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature, calories burned and activity were gathered on the participants.

Snyder was able to detect early signs of getting sick himself several times in those two years by watching data from his fitness trackers. Once, while on a trip to Norway, he found his blood oxygen levels didn’t return to normal and he developed a low- grade fever. Recalling his exposure to a tick- infested area of Massachusetts a week earlier, he sought medical care for Lyme disease. Snyder believes that without tracking his symptoms he may have ignored the symptoms and waited to seek care after the illness became more advanced. With higher heart rate and temperature came higher levels of C- reactive protein, a measurement of inflammation.

Variation From Baseline Measurements May Personalize Healthcare. Higher levels of C- reactive protein may indicate the presence of disease. Researchers theorize that if wearable fitness trackers could be used to produce baseline measurements for specific health markers, then healthcare could not only be personalized to the individual, but algorithms could be designed to detect changes and help physicians reach a diagnosis.

Interest in wearable sensors is growing for both individual and science- based use. The authors determined the data collected from continuous physiological information and activity may be used to analyze and guide health discussions and decisions as wearable technology improves and further study enables scientists to set baseline measurements. However, researchers also found several instances when skin temperature and heart rate were elevated but the individual didn’t develop symptoms. The researchers wrote that it may be possible wearables may lead to false alarms or overdiagnosis of disease, but the number will depend upon the threshold set by the user and physicians. Researchers also envision health tracking devices would be a powerful means of tracking health for individuals who are responsible for others, such as caregivers of elderly parents. Individuals living in remote areas or who have limited access to health care may also benefit from devices that load data to a computer or the cloud for analysis each day. Physiological Differences Noted Between Insulin Resistance and Insulin Sensitivity.

Twenty of the participants in the study using a variety of wearable trackers had clinical measurements indicating they were at risk for type 2 diabetes. Prior to testing, steady- state plasma glucose (SSPG) measurements were obtained to determine which of the individuals may be insulin resistant, and therefore have a higher risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes. During the study, researchers were able to associate a higher heart rate during daytime hours with higher SSPG levels. This difference in heart rate was not associated with activity level or an increased body mass index (BMI). Increased activity was associated with lower SSPG levels, consistent with studies demonstrating lower levels of blood glucose after activity.

Evidence does suggest that daily heart rate variations are associated with diabetes and changes in glucose levels. In this study, both daytime and delta (daytime minus nighttime) heart rates were associated with increases in SSPG, but not nighttime heart rates. Higher BMI has a positive correlation with increased heart rate, but the delta heart rate continued to be a strong predictor of SSPG elevation and insulin resistance, independent of any daily activity or individual BMI. This means when a fitness tracker has been developed to gather and report this type of data, individuals at higher risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes may be able to track their health markers at home, making changes to both dietary intake and food that will affect their SSPG levels. Do You Get Sleepy While Flying? Another observation made during this study identified striking differences in baseline measurement when participants were in particular environments.

It is not uncommon to become sleepy while flying, an event you may have chalked up to hectic days, lack of sleep or boredom in the plane. However, the fitness trackers recorded lower blood oxygen levels during high- altitude flights. Low oxygen level is a known effect of flying at high- altitude and is associated with feeling fatigued and sleepy. The recorded measurements in this study were able to characterize the changes in greater detail than in previous reports. Snyder commented: 1. Sometimes people may attribute this to staying up late, a hectic work schedule or the stress of travel. However, it is likely that cabin pressure and reduced oxygen also are contributors.

Aches, pains, runny noses and missed work are the common signs and symptoms for both you and your employer. The “common cold” may not present a significant risk to your health, if you are relatively healthy and don’t fall into a high- risk category.

However, while it may be relatively innocuous and more irritating than dangerous for many people, these common illnesses also present a significant financial burden to your community. Research published by the University of Michigan found the cost of the common cold in 2. U. S. Mark Fendrick, lead author of the research, was surprised by the number of people who used the medical system to find treatment for a cold, saying: 1.

Since there is no cure for the common cold, it does not receive a lot of attention when compared to less common conditions. A cold is the most commonly occurring illness in humans, so it was no surprise that there are approximately 5.

U. S. What was a surprise is how often the public uses the health care system to treat a cold. When added to the days employees missed for their own illness, the cost to employers in lost productivity amounted to $2. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Viral Respiratory Tract Infections Take a Higher Toll in Some Populations.