A fitness tracker or a health tracker: it’s the difference between a trainer at the gym saying you’re doing well, and your doctor telling you are well.
Philips, the Dutch electronics company mostly known in the US for its lighting products, is also an international player in health care, making many of the medical devices you see in hospitals and doctors’ offices, from MRI machines to ECG readers to patient monitors. They’ve now taken their HealthSuite program, which tracks patient care, to apps for Apple and Android phones, and a series of devices designed for use in the home to track your health.
One of them is their Connected Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor – they don’t give it a fancier name – which does just what it says. It takes your blood pressure as measured on your upper arm, including your pulse rate, and via Bluetooth transfers these readings to their HealthSuite health app. The device allows people with blood pressure issues – and that’s a growing number of people 50 plus – to keep track of their pressure as many times a day as needed. The Philips monitor will also warn if your heart rate is irregular, a warning that you should discuss with your physician or other health care professional.
Philips also has a wrist blood pressure monitor, which is smaller and easier to carry, and necessary for people who cannot use the more standard upper arm devices, such as those whose underarm lymph nodes have been removed during breast cancer surgery. It too sends its readings via Bluetooth to the HealthSuite app on your phone or tablet.
Another Philips device is their Connected Body Analysis Scale, which of course you step on to take your weight. But since you’ve told the HealthSuite app – accurately it’s hoped – your age, sex, and height, it produces a reading of your body fat percentage. Because it sends a small, unnoticeable electrical charge through your body (if you follow the instructions and step on the scale in bare feet), the reading is more accurate than just looking up a chart comparing your height and weight to produce a BMI, or Body Mass Index.
Other Philips devices also connect with their HealthSuite, including the Connected Ear Thermometer that can be used for adults, children, and newborns. Most recently, a Connected Health Watch was introduced which straps to your wrist like a fitness tracker and does the same sort of lifestyle monitoring such as activity and sleep patterns. It’s designed to be more pro-active about your health, including notifications that you’ve been sitting too long and should get up and move around!
While Philips would, of course, wish you to purchase at least one of each device to track your health, you can start with the one most useful to you – the blood pressure monitor, say – and decide later if you want to add more readings from another device.
The HealthSuite app is free at the Apple and Google Play stores. The upper arm blood pressure monitor is $99.99 at Amazon.com; the wrist blood pressure monitor slightly less. The body analysis scale is also $99.99 at Amazon.com; the ear thermometer is $59.99; and the Philips Connected Health Watch is $249.99.
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