Most people prefer taking their health into their own hands. Nowadays this is easy to handle since we easily have access to all kinds of tips for a healthy diet, activity and other things through mobile apps. You can use the apps and gadgets as an assistance: no matter whether you just want to take medical precaution or actually got an acute disease like diabetes.

With the internet of things (IoT) wearables, clothes and accessories with integrated sensors communicating with the environment are increasing more and more and make personalized data available. How can doctors and patients make proper use of this data and what changes may arise as a result?

Using wearables you can easily acquire data and biometric values, a process which opens new possibilities for doctors. A few years ago there have been first considerations to set up emergency buttons on walls or attach sensors to young children and seniors to monitor their heart rate and breath. But these ideas were never put into practice and were subject of controversial debates. Today this idea is entirely accepted and achieves a breakthrough in form of “activity trackers”: You have the choice between simple step counters or customized solutions that make your app recognize what kind of sports you are doing by checking your motion profile. Furthermore, it can calculate your calorie consumption by pulse rate or supply you with personal training plans.

In the field of medical healthcare, the innovations for patients grow very fast. In the future it will be easier for diabetes patients to determine their actual blood sugar level. Based on high tech sensors, patients no longer have to prick their fingertip, they simply can get the results through a small plate on their upper arm. Through the offered opportunity of using diabetes apps and online portals to save your data in the cloud you can look at a graphic evaluation to have a nice, broad overview. Now the doctor can – in case of an emergency – get access to the patient’s data. It also makes medical check-ups much easier, requiring less time.

Especially advertising campaigns put in our minds how important gadgets and solutions are to improve our fitness and health. They might actually help us to consciously discern our diet and activity. But particularly in the medical field there are still many questions and assertions to be proved and answered first.

In emergency aid it is still difficult interpreting the data correctly. Take for example someone who has no pulse rate anymore: is he dead or did he just forget to put his wristband right back on after washing his hands?  Also there is an issue with data protection: who is permitted to gain access? Where to save the data? How dangerous can a hacker attack be? Who is responsible for damage? Currently there is much space for discussion, for trial and error, but the progress in the field of healthcare shows an extensive transformation.