Clothes Will Monitor Health in the Future

tidbits that tantalizeHow Smart Are Your Clothes?

Unsure what to wear today? Hmm... How about that green shirt with the special fabric - the one that monitors your heart activity, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. That way, if you get yourself in a spot, your shirt will email your doctor and send you a text message telling you to cool it. Yeah, green it is...

Researchers in Europe say this scenario is not so far fetched. They're developing "smart clothing" that will indeed monitor your health. The fabric will be woven with imbedded sensors to monitor an array of bodily functions. Temperature and pulse will be standard. But, the garments will also have the ability to collect miniscule amounts of sweat and complete much more sophisticated analyses.

Many of the analyses rely on miniature devices that collect samples and then change color in response to the sample's content. This then is assessed by way of a spectrometer and the wearer's health status is easily determined.

The initial prototypes will be tested on people with diabetes and obesity, as well as athletes. Once the kinks are worked out, the team will turn to developing clothing for special applications, such as firefighters and rescue teams. As the smart clothing advances it is quite likely it will become a standard monitoring tool for a wide variety of health conditions.

So, yes - the green shirt seems like the wise choice. It not only looks good, it will see you make it through the day in top shape.

To read more about the study, see this from ScienceDaily. To learn more about the manufacturer of the clothing, see this from Biotex.