While the secret to living longer and healthier life might be in diet and exercise, it is also closely related to stress levels. Many studies link stress to illness, premature aging, and other physical and emotional conditions. A discreet wearable, going by the name of Lief smart patch, is aimed at enabling people to manage their stress response.
Using its flexible silicone exterior, a 3-axis gyroscope and an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, the Lief smart patch helps in initiating calming exercises when it detects signs of stress via increased heart and breathing rates with accuracy down to the milliseconds.
Lief is worn on the skin underneath the clothing and helps in focusing on one’s heart rate variability (HRV), which is defined as the time gap between each heart beat. The device responds when it senses stress and initiates a biofeedback training exercise. The patch has a pair of haptic motors that quietly vibrate, helping the users gain a pattern to sync their breath over the course of three minutes. This, the creators claim, helps improve HRV by an average of 140 percent.
You can also use their mobile app (available for Android and iOS) to store data about your heart beat, temperature, etc. transmitted via Bluetooth, and can be used to create easy to read graphs and charts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJvat2NKplk
The users can choose from four different training exercises to help relax in times of distress. Lief’s has an internal battery which can last up to a week and needs around an hour to fully charge through a USB port. The company has already raised 91 percent of its US$50,000 goal in three days on their Kickstarter campaign, with another 39 days left of funding to go. One Lief pack can be bought $179, and they are due to be shipped by July 2017.
What are your thoughts on the stress relief patch? Comment below!