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Wellness
LifestyleHealth & Wellness

New at CES 2018: wearable tech to boost your health and wellness

From headbands that monitor brainwaves to sensor socks that help to keep track of elderly people and patients going through rehab, technology firms are looking to cash in on the lucrative digital health industry

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Looxid Labs is working on a brainwave-monitoring headset which is now in the research phase but could be used for treatment of ailments like post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Agence France-Presse

Want to manage your stress? A “neurofeedback” headband could help. Need to be sure your elderly father is taking his medication? Attach a sensor to his sock.

With virtual reality and motion-tracking sensors, the tech world is borrowing some of the gadgetry from self-driving cars, gaming and fitness applications and bringing them to medicine.

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The 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week in Las Vegas, included the latest advances in digital health, suggesting promising avenues for treatment, even if many lack fully-fledged medical approval. Tech firms are looking to cash in on a digital health industry estimated at about US$200 billion annually in areas ranging from app-based diagnoses to pain management and telemedicine.

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A growing number of start-ups focused on the brain – capturing or “hacking” brainwaves with the goal of improving sports performance, enabling relaxation, aiding sleep, and potentially treating pain, anxiety or other ills.

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“Brain technologies can help people learn and practise meditation,” says Chris Aimone, founder of InteraXon, a Canadian start-up which exhibited its Muse headband aimed at using “neurofeedback” to manage stress and improve athletic performance.

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