health

Arctrieval lets you correspond electronically with your health care providers

It’s pretty amazing that in the year 2010 when we all spend a significant part of our lives online, that we’re still surrounded by so much paper – books, magazines, bills, records. Lots of official records still exist with the local and federal authorities and with your doctor(s) and hospitals on paper.

Arctrieval logoArctrieval is a startup that is taking a step towards changing that by allowing for electronic correspondence between you and your doctor/hospital/insurance company.

Arctrieval is a Web-based service that allows you to send communications to your health care provider via e-mail, fax or snail mail, and lets you monitor those comms. You can also manage all of your family’s communication as well. For electronic messages, Arctrieval uses the ubiquitous PDF file format. Arctrieval also facilitates transferring your medical records to other online repositories (such as Microsoft HealthVault).

Arctrieval is free for consumers – you can sign up here.

Incidentally, even if you don’t sign up, you can also make use of some forms that Arctrieval makes available for free.

Nonin GO2 Achieve Pulse Oximeter measures your blood’s oxygen level and your heart rate

nonin go2 pulse oximeterHi-tech sports medicine is becoming cheaper by the day and finding its way into more and more homes of weekend warriors and folks who just want to have more control of their health.

Take the pulse oximeter for example. Stick your finger in it and it can measure oxygen saturation in your blood and of course your heart rate.

This particular model, the GO2 Achieve comes in an attractive sandstone orange color and is made by Nonin who claim to have invented fingertip pulse oximetry.

If you don’t like this one, there are surprisingly lots of other models to choose from.

Buy now!
Price: $99.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Fitbit – track your sleep and daily activity

Fitbit is the latest in a growing number of sleep and health tracking devices. Fitbit sets itself apart in tracking both your sleep habits and phyiscal activity.

fitbit sleep and activity trackerFitbit is a small device that clips to a wristband or piece of clothing while you sleep or go about your daily activities. Its motion sensor gathers data constantly and every time you come into range of the included wireless basestation, it downloads the data and sticks it into your personalized page on the Fitbit website. You can share your data with friends from there if you’d like.

Fitbit tracks how long you sleep vs lay in bed, and how many times you woke up. On the activity front, Fitbit tracks your steps, the intensity and duration of your activity, calories burned and reports on all of it.

Fitbit is aggressively priced at $99 and there is no subscription fee for using their website. It may not be as sophisticated as devices made specifically for sleep OR activity, like the Zeo is for sleep or the Ripxx is for exercise, but it’s only 1 device and much cheaper.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $99.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Zeo Personal Sleep Coach tracks, analyzes your sleeping habits

zeo personal sleep coachSleep tracking devices are really starting to become more popular. The Zeo Personal Sleep Coach is a relatively new sleep aid that builds on the research and attempts to take sleep optimization to the next level.

Zeo consists of 2 basic parts – a headband that you wear to bed, and a bedside display/data gatherer. The Zeo Bedside Display shows you a visualization of how your last night’s sleep went as well as how it compared to previous nights.

One particularly nice feature is that all of the data is stored on an SD memory card that you can then pop into your computer for upload to the myZeo website for further analysis, and storage in your own sleep journal. Research has shown that a sleep journal (like other journaling methods) is an effective way to detect and correct issues with your sleep.

Like other sleep aids that we’ve featured in the past (SleepTracker, aXbo and ZZZ Checker), the Zeo looks for that optimal point in your sleep cycle to attempt waking you.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $249.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Withings Scale – Measure Body Fat %, BMI, Sends Data via WiFi

wifi body scaleAh, here’s a good example of everyday gadgets getting IP addresses and connected to your home network in some fashion – the Withings WiFi Body Scale connects to your WiFi home network (802.11g), uploads the data which you can then view the data on a secure Web-interface. Pretty slick.

Apart from weight, include lean and fat masses, it also measures body fat % and BMI. You even share the data via e-mail, Twitter, and post to websites. There is even a free iPhone app that you can use to see your results.

Buy now!

More info from the manufacturer
Price: $159.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

CES 2010: TabSafe Monitors & Dispenses Medications, and is Web-Connected

tabsafeTabSafe is a new ‘medication assurance device’ made by its namesake company, TabSafe. In everyday terms, it’s a consumer gadget that helps people monitor multiple medications, monitor vital signs and inform caregivers if pills have not been taken or needs refills.

The TabSafe hooks up to the Internet to keep it and the patient’s doctors up to date.

AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill Lets You Run, Walk, Jog With a Reduced Body Mass

AlterG Anti-Gravity TreadmillHere is one of those gadgets that you either need to use in a specialized facility or be pretty wealthy to own yourself. The Anti-Gravity treadmill by AlterG allows you to walk, jog or run with an effectively lowered body mass.

Get into the specialized harness, seal it up, and set your target body mass at less than 100%, and get running. The obvious application is rehabilitation for people with lower body injuries, but there are others such as: weight training for older folks, weight loss for heavier individuals so that their weight does not have as much impact on their joints, and of course, aerobic conditioning for athletes and others.

SenseWear – Electronic Weight Watcher

The SenseWear from BodyMedia is an electronic gadget that you wear on your arm, that monitors your body’s main stats and gives you feedback on how you’re doing with your health and weight management.

In collaboration with the SenseWear website, users can track their nutrition and progress with up to date accurate information about their bodies – weight, metabolism, calories burned, sleep and more.

Key metrics tracked by SenseWear are Total Energy Expenditure (Calories burned); Active Energy Expenditure; Physical Activity Duration and Levels (METs); and Sleep Duration and Sleep Efficiency.

Gimme!
More info from the manufacturer

Price: $299.99 plus $19/mo for website subscription
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

bodybugg Calorie Management System

Here’s another potential calorie management gadget that you can wear to monitor things like calories burned and even steps taken. The bodybugg is a small piece of electronics that you wear on your arm throughout the day. It has sensors that monitor your calories using metrics such as galvanic skin response, heat flow and skin temperature.

At the end of the day, you upload the info in your bodybugg to your PC or Mac via a USB cable. The small catch is that you have to subscribe to a Web-based application that crunches all the data and presents it to you in graphical and other formats. Fortunately, purchasing the bodybugg gives you 6 months for free.

The bodybugg reminds me of the Cosmed Fitmate and the SenseWear Weight Watcher. And while you’re at it, you should monitor the nutritional value of your food with an EatSmart Nutrition Scale.

Buy now!

Price: $199.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

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