I just read an interesting article in the Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/fitness/articles/2005/05/26/new_gadgets_help_people_count_calories/) regarding a maze of new products coming onto the market to help people accurately track calorie-burn during workouts.
The products range in price from a $60 or so up to a few hundred dollars. Some simply measure heart rate and extrapolate a formula to determine oxygen consumption which then infers calorie burn. Other techniques measure moisture and body temperature which can also be used to infer energy use. Some of these devices have been shown to have a 4% accuracy. I’m sure even better devices are forthcoming that will be cheaper, less bulky, and more accurate…and…per our vision of Inescapable Data…have wireless interfaces for easy adaptation to our computers and other devices.
We are truly entering an interesting age. Weight and obesity problems plague our country (and much of the world). Fad diets and drastic medical operations are poor substitutes to proper weight management. We’ve never had data regarding our calorie expenditure or consumption before, and certainly never in real-time, and never easily mixable or trackable by our life-devices (computers).
To be sure, we’re not expecting people to be wired-up everywhere and interfacing to computers with every step on the golf course. But the vision we have is that this data will be collected by devices around us and when convenient will find its proper way back to our life-device (computer) for some solid benefits.
We are a civilization whose behavior is easily changed simply by having feedback. Studies have shown that houses with energy-meters displaying “oil dollars spent” in their kitchen tend to keep the house cooler, particularly when the number is compared to neighbors. We alter our behavior based on data…but as importantly, data compared to other data or values.
So, we might be at the beginning of a new age of weight-management based on “real-time” accurate data. Work still needs to be done on the measurement on the consumption side, but we can envision packaged products and packaged meals having simple RFID-like enunciators that your cell/PDA will absorb quietly. We’re getting there. Being more “connected” to our bodies will hopefully allow us to improve our health and longevity.
Tags
obesity RFID Weight Loss diet exercise
Learn more: Inescapable Data
Comments