The day is not far when your watch can tell you if you’re going to—achoo!—catch the flu. A research team at Stanford University in California is working on an app that uses information from wearable health trackers such as Fitbit to tip you off in advance if you are about to fall ill. The team tested 43 volunteers who wore a smart watch for up to 11 months. It was found that just as the volunteers were starting to get sick, their heart rate and skin temperature went up and blood-oxygen level fell. Picking up on these body signals, the app gives you up to half day’s notice of imminent illness. The researchers scored eight on eight in the detection of infections suffered by the volunteers during the 11 months. However, they caution that more conclusive trials are needed before the app’s results can be anywhere near conclusive.

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Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
March 2017