Med One Blog

How Smartwatches Engage Patients in Monitoring Their Health

How Smartwatches Engage Patients in Monitoring Their Health

One area of untapped health care is wearable devices. Although some doctors are starting to utilize these near-constant methods of monitoring their patients’ health, there is still room for improvement. Smartwatches haven’t even been around for a decade, but they have already provided so much convenience for individuals. Yet, there is still much more available potential. Here are the current ways smartwatches engage patients in monitoring their health.

Receive Health Care Messages

Almost all smartwatches can receive text messages, emails, and other notifications. This can help patients with reminders, so they never accidentally miss their doctor’s appointments, causing them to delay their health care. People can also have easier access to regular check-ins about their health progress, status, or goals. Doctors can also communicate timely treatment plan changes via text that patients are aware of sooner rather than checking a patient portal.

Automatically Monitor Health

Another emerging trend in how smartwatches engage patients in monitoring their health is through all the health data that watches can collect. This includes information such as heart rate, heart rate variability, steps or distance walked throughout the day, the number of stairs climbed, the quality and duration of sleep, and a rough estimate of calories burned.

Smartwatches are fantastic ways for people to get a snapshot of their overall activity level. With just a bit more effort, there are some highly beneficial, not-so-automatic ways that smartwatches can track more information. These include diet and nutrition monitoring, body weight and composition, and a patient’s blood pressure.

Track Goal Progress

By combining both advantages, smartwatches can help patients monitor and stay on track towards their personal health goals. It can be highly motivating to see progress, and there are many smartwatch apps that lay out this journey for you. Smartwatches are a consumer level of patient monitoring equipment, but they still can provide valuable data to doctors. By having access to this information in real-time, patients will be more empowered to improve their health.

As technology continues to evolve, we can utilize it to enrich our lives and health.