Sweat-analysing wristband takes a new approach on health monitoring

So far 2016 has been the year of the fitness trackers. Post CES we’ve seen an explosion of new products hit the market and popularity in the devices soar, almost as if nobody realised they’ve been around for years. There are some interesting new features which companies have adopted in an attempt to separate themselves from the market, however we’re still relying on heartbeat monitors and step counting readers to give us an understanding on our health. That was the case until a new electronic health-monitoring device was announced that claims to revolutionise the way we analyse our health….. by monitoring a person’s sweat.

The new flexible fluid sensors developed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, can measure the electrolytes and metabolites in your sweat along with your skin temperature to see if you’re ok to carry on training or if you should give it a rest. The gadget could help users instantly gauge their hydration level and give scientists an easy and non-invasive way to collect data for medical studies. Going into a bit more depth, it’s able to measure glucose, lactic acid, sodium and potassium ions within the sweat.

The current product prototype is fitted into a sweatband, which is not ideal for everyone but engineers have reason to believe the circuit board could be significantly reduced, therefore allowing sweat-tracking capabilities in numerous other wearables. All of this data is number crunched within the circuit board and can be transmitted to a receiver such as a smartphone app.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on the progress of this one.