With the slew of self-care, fitness and sleep devices on show at CES, the health and medical industries are making big rumbles in consumer tech.
When « health tech » first started popping up at CES a few years ago, it was mostly centered on step counters, digital workout coaches and heart-rate trackers. These days, of course, that technology is widely available in consumer wearables from the likes of Fitbit, Garmin and Apple. But the devices we saw at the 2018 iteration of the world’s biggest electronics show raised the bar for health, fitness, wellness and medical technology in some surprising new ways — and for an audience that reaches far beyond runners and gym addicts.
This isn’t surprising considering the huge demographic changes we’re experiencing. Tens of millions of Baby Boomers (people born roughly between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s) are reaching their golden years now, and tech industries are rushing to help the elderly and those in the disability community succeed and live independently.
Below is a roundup of all the compelling tech we saw that’s related to self-care, elderly care, health monitoring, fitness and healthy living and sleep. We also want to give a shout-out to the NeoMano robotic glove, which didn’t quite fit in any of these categories, but was a favorite nevertheless. It’s a special glove that helps those with spinal cord injuries perform everyday tasks using their hands.
Keep in mind that while we were learning about these devices down on the show floor, we weren’t able to test all their company’s claims thoroughly and accurately, so take their assertions with a grain of salt. Even getting a reading of something considered quite simple, like a heart rate, isn’t always accurate in fitness wearables and heart-rate trackers.
Still though, we couldn’t help but be impressed by these products’ initial concepts and intentions. If these devices do what they claim and ever actually escape developer limbo (unlike other CES vaporware we’ve seen), these products can help us lead not only more advanced lives, but healthy ones as well.
These days, the term « self-care » — or taking a conscious initiative to take care of one’s mental and physical well-being — gets thrown around a lot. Though some companies use the concept liberally to peddle their products, it can mean more than just pampering yourself with bath bombs and candles.
The My Special Aflac Duck « receiving » chemotherapy to help ease kids being treated for cancer.
If you have older relatives who are aging, it’s easy to worry about their well-being when you can’t regularly check up on them. These products, though a bit silly-looking, have the best intentions of keeping your elderly relatives safe.
The Hip’Air deploys to break a fall and protect your hips.
As the ancient maxim goes, « Know thyself. » One way you can start is measuring and gathering important stats about your body, as well as the parts of the environment around you that can negatively affect your health.
The L’Oreal UV Sense device is the smallest wearable we’ve seen.
The products below aim to help you live healthily throughout the day as well as through the night. The latter is especially important since not getting enough sleep has been associated with health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes and increased risk of heart attacks.
This sleep pillow « breathes » in and out to help you fall asleep.
The Omron wearable measures blood pressure.
As the OG piece of consumer health gadgetry, there’s no surprise that fitness trackers made multiple appearances at CES this year. But in a sea of smartwatches and wearables, each new product had a unique feature to help it stand out.
