Can Wearable Tech Track Your Emotions?

The ability to monitor activity and upload our lifestyle data to a smartphone or website has been a hit with consumers. A quick look around any meeting room will reveal more than a few attendees wearing a fitness tracker, and some will even be competing against others to finish at the top of the Fitbit leader board at the end of the working week.

This is but another indicator that the wearable tech boom is only increasing. That is, the emergence of bizarre wristbands that even give you an electric shock if you spend too much money, inspired by Pavlovian psychology. However, monitoring our fitness levels are so last year. Wearable technology is now being used to detect how we are feeling too. Cue the Zenta band.

How Deep Does Wearable Technology Go

Last week the Zenta band by Vinaya raised $100,000 within 48-hours on Indiegogo. 

Does your heart feel like it’s going to burst out of your chest when you give big corporate presentations? Is there a pattern to who or what makes you feel stressed? If you believe that your emotional wellbeing is just as important as your health, then the Zenta band could be exactly what you need in your life.

The bands biometric sensors monitor tangible metrics such as moods, happiness, stress and even fertility tracking. The standard features of tracking fitness, activity, and sleep patterns are also present, making this wearable tech a gateway into both mind and body.

“Grounded in neuroscience and psychology, Zenta collects and synthesizes complex information about your life to build a holistic picture of your wellbeing over time– far beyond just counting your steps.”

Using micro-patterns and machine learning algorithms to track our daily behaviors and to reveal when and why we are happiest certainly seems like a breakneck step forward. Only time will tell if this next wave of wearable technology will offer early warning signs of depression, eating disorders or even inform you if the amount of time you are spending on social media is too much. 

NOT Technology for Technology’s Sake

It’s refreshing to hear that it’s not all about the technology, and that there is an emphasis at Vinaya on humans first and technology second. Essentially the device enables and encourages mindfulness about our body, rather than walk around aimlessly lost in our own world or routine. 

Understanding how we feel at various times of the day also has the potential to make us more productive by ensuring we perform those tricky tasks when we are naturally at our most focused. If there is something that is responsible for a change in our mood or for making us unhappy, we finally have the power to identify it and do something about the cause of our frustrations. 

The arrival of Zenta and an array of similar products allows each and every one of us to be proactive rather than reactive with health issues. This is a game-changer and something that is often not talked about. For example, only a couple of years ago, if you wanted a health check-up, a medical professional would need to check your heart rate, blood pressure, weight, etc. 

Using a wearable device or even just a mobile phone, medical professionals can automatically track all of the calories we consume each day, sleep patterns, and exercise with minimal effort. They are then able to historically cross-reference this information to look for trends in our own behaviors and health. This level of information is incredibly powerful to doctors and healthcare professionals who no longer have to work with partial data.

Wearable Tech Is Complementary Not A Replacement 

Wearable tech will never replace the role of the family physician, but it will act as a virtual assistant that enables professionals to reach a diagnosis much quicker than before. And wearable technology is a conduit to a deeper understanding of our body and mind.

We are on a journey of self-discovery wherein technology is providing a wake-up call to the personal responsibility that comes with our own actions and behaviors.

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