Even in institutions the system relies on, 30 years in the healthcare field may reduce the firmest optimism and beliefs. While innovation has revolutionized almost every other industry, and professionals eagerly embrace new tools, health care often stands out. Clinicians often encounter alternative approaches with cross-arms rather than open minds.
Relentlessly, the rate of chronic diseases, depression and medication use continues to rise. More than one billion people suffer from obesity and 970 million live in global mental illness. If there is time to implement alternative preventive health care tools in clinical practice, then that is certainly the case now.
The rise of continuous glucose monitors provides useful precedents. Now patients are learning which foods will stimulate blood sugar, but not spit out from theoretical dietary advice, but from direct personalized feedback. Additionally, with the support of AI/ML algorithms, healthy wearable tools allow users to access new insights around eating habits, such as automatic food logging, chewing rates, and diet-driven behavioral changes.
Step counting does not require intrusion of the device and is suitable for almost everyone. So why don’t we prescribe tools to record them in health records along with other patients’ reports? A meta-analysis in 2023 shows that even a moderate increase in the count of steps per day can lead to a significant reduction in all-cause mortality. The gains started well below 4,000 steps per day and continued to increase by more than 10,000. These improvements are applied between age, risk profile and between the two genders. This is not the edge. It is a large-scale drug. These findings have been recently published in The Lancet.
Healthy wearable devices are promising tools for cognitive perception applications. These devices can monitor physiological and behavioral signals in real time, thereby detecting early focus, fatigue and cognitive decline. Advanced sensors and AI-driven analytics can provide personalized interventions to enhance memory, support attention and improve overall psychological performance. Perhaps most critically, wearable devices have the potential to detect neurological diseases early, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and disorders associated with concussions. This will enable early intervention and improve patient outcomes.
Monitoring the body's body's signals can not only promote external health, but also mental health. Physical exercise interventions have been found to be more effective than standard antidepressants to improve mental health outcomes. However, in clinical practice, we deal with depression or fatigue by asking patients how much they move? Wearable devices have also proven to be a reliable source of measurement of mental health. Research shows that smart glasses can distinguish between depression and non-depressed individuals than false surveys or questionnaires, compared to current gold standard diagnostic methods.
However, we got the prescription pad directly.
“One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” According to Michael P. Pignone, annual health care spending for patients with chronic diseases is about $1.5 trillion. It is estimated that implementing effective interventions to support disease management, post-hospital care and case management can save up to $45 billion in health systems annually. Additionally, a study of the Mobile Healthy Cardiovascular Self-Management Program using a Bluetooth-enabled Blood Pressure (BP) monitor found that the program averaged $1,709 per user per year in healthcare savings. This proves that investment in preventive health benefits not only individuals’ physical health, but their pocket books.
Many clinicians view personalized health data measurements as bureaucratic post-events rather than therapeutic interventions. Chewing rate, facial movement, step count, sleep tracking, and heart rate variability are not trivial data points, they are behavioral leverages. Behavioral changes and prevention are possible when patients are given access to them, and when data make sense. It’s time we no longer see these tools as lifestyle noises, but rather as clinical relevance. They are not alternative treatments, but a way to empower patients, reduce pain and strive for optimal health.
Air travel was once dangerous before sensor data enabled actionable dashboards and real-time feedback. Now, it is one of the safest ways to travel by monitoring critical behavior and preventing crashes. Imagine a future where patients are working with clinicians to share information about their activities, eating habits and more.
People are getting sicker and the population is aging, and it is not clear whether policymakers see the long-term impact of our current trajectory. Now is the time to embrace and expand personalized preventive health care tools.
The decision is ours.
Photo: Exdez, Getty Images
Charles Nduka is the founder and Chief Science Officer (CSO) of Emteq Labs, and is a market leader in wearable technology for emotion recognition. He is a leading facial muscle specialist with over 20 years of surgical experience, including 10 years of consultant plastics and reconstruction surgeons (Queen Victoria Hospital). Charles has a broad background in research and development, including clinical trials, has over 100 scientific publications and is the chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of the charity Facial Paralysis UK.
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