Lead With This: 5 Gadgets That Might Save Your Life

Your health is important. Maybe even the most important thing right now, in these troubled times. On the other hand, monitoring and keeping track of all the stats that show what shape you’re in is tedious and, at most times, a hassle.

The good news is technology is on your side, and the advances we made in the field of monitoring and keeping track of important things is on the up and up. Just ask the NSA. 

Bad joke aside, tracking your body and your health is extremely important, and not necessarily that hard right now, in the 21^st century. Advancements in the field made these gadgets that might save your life possible, and some of them are so awesome that you might not want to leave home without them. 

So, in no particular order, here are 5 gadgets that might get you out of a tight spot or save your life, if necessary. 

The BodyGuardian 

This little device is a “small, discreet, wireless monitor” that can replace your smartwatch or your sensor array with a ton of wires coming out of it. The bad news is, in some cases, you might need a prescription for this product, depending on a state by state law, but the benefits are instantaneous. 

It comes as a sticker that you apply to your skin that will monitor your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, activity rate, and others. The catch is that you after you put this on your skin, the device connects to an app that sends all the data to your doctor, and alerts him if something is problematic. You can even set up a caregiver that is alerted in case of an emergency with a single press of a button. 

Preventive Solutions, the company that makes this little wonder, even has a mini version of the gadget so the level of discomfort is lowered. The producer predicates that you can have a normal life and go about your business, the only thing that they need you to know being that you need to change the strip during your monitoring period. 

Moona The Smart Pillow 

Sleeping and resting are the most important functions of our body. We need our RnR to be able to be productive and have enough energy to move through the day. In the past, we did all sorts of wacky stuff to get us there, usually involving stucking one foot snugly outside the blanket and positioning the pillow in a manner that would put even a fakir to shame. 

Here comes Moona, the smart pillow that you won’t know you want until it is in your possession. Sure, the price mark is a bit steep, but for your investment, you get a whole lot of bells and whistles to monitor your sleep and your snoring. 

Yes, the Moona can stop you from snoring with a vibration that prompts you to change your position. Even more, it is a regular swiss army knife when it comes to features. Right now this is one of the best solutions you can go for, Moona combining three important technologies into one: a pod, the pillow, and an app. All of them are working in tandem to provide the best sleeping experience that you can get from a pillow right now. 

Moona is tracking all your sleeping habits to provide you with the best solution for your sleep schedule. It even comes with a water pump to cool down your pillow while you sleep. This is some Star Trek, next-level stuff, and for those with problems sleeping, it might be the answer to the good old question: “When did the sun come up?” In a nutshell, say goodbye to night sweats, hot flashes or sleep migraines. And the list goes on, Moona bringing a lot of features to the table to avoid all those pesky sleepless nights. 

The Smart Toilet created by Dr. Sanjiv “Sam” Gambhir

The smart toilet, created by the Standford team lead by Dr. Gambhir, looks at your backside and tells you if there’s something wrong with your body. Sure, it is still in the experimental stage right now, but this is the stuff you find in Sci-Fi books.

The toilet examines your urine and feces for any irregularities like blood, infections or some forms of cancers and automatically sends data to a cloud. Even the time you spend on the toilet is indexed by algorithms and A.I. to generate diagnoses. 

Some of the details of this device might make you look the other way, but in the future, it will spare you the pain of looking in the past… so to say. On top of this, the prototype looks like the bastard child of Robocop and Alejandro Jodorowsky with a bit of H.R. Giger sprinkled in for a strange note, with bits and rods sticking out of it. On the other hand, it is still a working model and the team hopes that they can make a cost-effective, market-ready product soon. Until then, you can get a Japanese smart toilet that sings to you and reads you the news for about $8,000 to $12,000.

TytoHome Medical Exam Kit 

If the product above is still in the development stages, you can take this one anywhere in the US. You can even order it online which, in this case, is amazing. 

If you want to test your body temperature, lungs, skin, ears, throat or other areas, you can inspect them with the following kit, and then send all the data to your doctor. At that point, he can help you with advice, thanks to the app that comes with the TytoHome, or even prescribe a treatment. 

It is one of the best remote medical exam kits on the market and the services are top-notch, most reviews praising the product. There are some small caveats, though: some insurance policies won’t cover it and in some chain stores, the live stream function is disabled, for some reason. It takes some getting used to, but at the time of writing this article, it is maybe the best product of its kind on the market. 

It is a new product, and some kinks are still being worked on, some of them related to privacy concerns over the live streaming function. But the sensors and medical exams are almost 99% accurate, and it gives you the power to test yourself if you know what are you reading and looking for. Just don’t try to medicate yourself, too.

Family Guardian + Freedom Guardian 

How about a sensor array that can monitor you around the house and let you send medical alerts, and a watch that lets you track and text to speech, for a small monthly fee?

The Family Guardian uses an array of three in-home safety sensors to monitor you around the house and lets your loved ones check in on you if need be. In essence, they track your activity in the house, learn how you go about your day and alert your caregiver or close ones if there is anything out of the ordinary. 

You get mobile and email notifications, even if the subject is as far as 1,300 square feet. At least that’s what the company claims, plus you get a pendant that they call the “medical alert help button” that can be activated in case of an emergency. Oh… and you get 24/7 monitoring for your subscription. 

The Freedom Guardian is geared more towards teens and older adults. The smartwatch implements a large screen with a camera, GPS, text to speech function, tracking, alerts, and a panic button. You don’t need to worry about a SIM card, because the Freedom Guardian comes with a pre-installed mobile SIM. 

The only problem with this product is the cost of the subscription, which can run you a bit dry at the end of a year. But, if you are willing to pay the price, it’s one nifty gadget that can put your mind at ease, and let you track your loved one’s health and whereabouts. And if your insurance covers it… more power to you. To note, no mobile device is needed to operate any of these two products.