The disregard for natural therapies comes from the idea that they are primitive and unscientific. Unfortunately, scientific research and studies require costly funding, which is not easily available for nutrient, phytochemical and plant research. Moreover, the well-endowed pharmaceutical industry finds no financial incentive in researching plants, because big profits only come from drug patents. This is the reason for the imbalance and lack of substantiation on the benefits of nutrients, natural unprocessed foods and healthy lifestyles. Despite that, more and more diligent scientists and researchers manage with modest funds to do their studies and research.
Anthropologists can tell us from the bones of our ancestors, millenniums ago, that they lived healthy long years. Did they use modern medicine or take pharmaceutical drugs? No, they simply lived on lean game meat, fresh greens and fruits, nuts and seeds. They were healthy and sturdy. Farming and cultivation of grains and legumes only came to the Middle East 5,000 years ago. With cultivation and interference from man came disease and disorders. However, what I am about to discuss today is quite different.
I recently discovered that a growing wave of young dynamic scientists and inventors are seeking other approaches to maintain their health than with medicine and pharmaceutical drugs. They have decided to take their health into their own hands with the help of their technological expertise. Let us see how they intend to stay healthy and fit.
The other day, I was going through the Technology Review (July/August 2011 edition); the magazine is published by the prestigious technology university, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The review dedicates its reporting to the latest findings and innovations in the scientific and technology arenas. An article called Life Measure caught my attention.
Life Measure, I found out, is about a group of upcoming scientists and students who have become aware and concerned about their health and well being. They decided to direct their science and gadgets to daily following ups on their vital signs, sleep, mood, diet and other health issues. To measure their state of health or detect early signs of disease and disorder, they wire themselves to devices to keep record of their personal health expressions. The collected data is shared with other members on a monthly basis. They hope to eventually hook their results to a database pool in order to assist in research processes as well as help others with chronic illnesses.
The health-conscious group encompasses young scientists, students, fitness freaks and even patients with chronic disorders. They congregate in empty spaces in the suburbs of Boston to compare notes and monthly readings of their daily health mappings coming from the devices they carry, which are designed to follow up their sleep patterns, vital signs and other health expressions.
A group called the “Quantified Self” started the movement. Participants attach wires to different parts of their bodies. The wires are connected to different contraptions that monitor various health aspects and body behaviors. The “self-trackers” come in with spreadsheets and customized gadgets to observe and follow up food consumption, energy, fatigue, mood, sleep, heart rate, blood pressure and more. By measuring their “personal metrics,” they monitor their states of health in order to control or reverse disorders (diabetes, hypertension) and correct discrepancies.
These innovators hope that one day such daily follow-ups would become helpful in early disease detection. They could arrest or slow down developing disorders and even reverse them with diet or lifestyle modifications. Self-quantifying data can offer clues for early diagnoses in order to seek the appropriate assistance. Long-term health follow-up patterns and keeping records can show the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of certain diets, lifestyles, therapies, medication and drug dosage. This may help in adjusting doses according to the need of the patient or in changing or stopping a medicine or type of allergenic food.
Sharing health data with others via social-media encourages others to self-track; creates health awareness among the public; speeds up results of research; and offers a wider pool of participants of different backgrounds for clinical studies. Comparing results with others with similar disorders could help shed light on the conditions as well as different health aspects.
Mountain View, California, recently hosted the first annual Quantified Self conference. Members came wired to their monitors and appliances, flaunting and displaying them. With entangled wires attached to different parts of the body, researchers walked around: One gadget around the arm to measure blood pressure; another to monitor the heart rate; a clip on the earlobe to gauge blood oxygen levels; a sensor to read body temperature; a watch to calculate steps and more and more. All the data get collected from the sensors to get analyzed by various devices in their pack bags, which get uploaded online through cellphones or computers. They apparently looked more like patients in intensive-care units.
Some of the attending scientists believe that that such wearable sensors and contraptions could also become useful for treating professionals to monitor patients with chronic disorders such as migraines, arrhythmic heartbeats, high blood pressure, diabetes and more, at all times when sitting, standing, walking, sleeping, resting, tired, active, energetic, calm, angry, excited and anxious. This would be a good way to calculate the variability of heartbeat, blood pressure, oxygen intake and sugar levels in order to assess the possible causes (stress, diet, lifestyle, medication) of the disorder. This could help to see the effects of mental stress and sleep deprivation and how they can translate into physiological pain or disorders. Stress would also become measurable during mental or physical activity and in sedentary positions. Following up doses of medicines and personalizing them can be advantageous to patients.
With self-trackers merging data and findings, research and studies will be simplified and done in shorter time, becoming more accurate with larger database rather than relying on clinical studies and animal experiments. If used properly in a controlled manner, self-tracking and self-quantifying will serve natural health and become instrumental in keeping healthy and fit.
