Smartwatches getting smarter, may flag infection alert soon

Studies promise a future in which the gadget would flag COVID-like symptoms in advance. That would make it an essential accessory, like smartphones

- ROHIT NANDWANI

Can your smartwatch make an early detection about a possible coronavirus infection? As we all know, smart wearables collect a lot of your health data every day. Just the way the heart-rate monitor in your smartwatches can alert you about possible warning signs of sleep apnea or atrial fibrillation, they can also smudge warning signs that might signal that your body is fighting a flu-like infection.

From fitness trackers to sickness trackers

Smartwatches and other wearables make several measurements per day – at least 250,000, which is what makes them such powerful monitoring devices.

The promising and logical progression of wearables in the past few years has highly blurred the margin between wellness tech and medical devices. Smartwatches can now practice electrocardiograms – an experiment or a test that can measure the electrical activity of your heartbeat – straight from the wrist. But wearables have mostly emphasized on things like reproductive health, sleep and heart disease. Detecting infectious diseases is now a newer territory where smartwatches are doing wonders.

Doesn’t it actually seem a foreseen future where your smartwatch warns you before you get sick? It might sound like science fiction, but there’s reason to believe wearables could be useful in detecting infections.

Researchers pave the way