Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here. But whether it's a smart watch that tracks your heart rate or an adhesive patch that continuously monitors your blood glucose level, wearable technology is revolutionizing the way we access our own health information.
Welcome some of our health information anyway. For most people, monitoring blood pressure still means winding a cuff around the arm, whether in a healthcare setting or at home, and waiting for the squeeze as it inflates and then deflates to reveal a blood pressure reading. And even then the reading is merely a moment in time and not a continual monitoring of your blood pressure, which can and typically does
change frequently throughout the day. Now there's good news on the horizon regarding the ability to continuously monitor blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas and m University have developed a non invasive solution in the form of a temporary electronic tattoo. The use of the device was outlined in an article published in June of two and the journal Nature Nanotechnology. It was developed with funding from the Office of Naval research the National
Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Electronic tattoos are a category of devices that are basically very thin, flexible patches that can adhere to your skin, measure various vital signs, and transmit the data to a phone or other computer for collection and processing. Their lifespan varies, but some can be worn for days or weeks at a time. If current research trends are any indication, there's sure to be a whole raft of tech tats in our future.
This new blood pressure monitoring electronic tattoo is made with graphine, which is one of the strongest and thinnest materials in
the world. It's made up of carbon atoms, like a lot of stuff, including graphite used in pencils, but graphings nanostructure allows it to exist as an essentially two dimensional sheet of atoms that can conduct electricity and is stronger than steel, so when applied to the skin as part of this device, it provides a waterproof way to measure the skin's electrical currents and the body's response to changes
in blood volume. The prototypes of the electronic tattoo can be worn for up to a week to provide continuous blood pressure readings. The researchers hope that the technology will help us better understand how blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day, especially when we encounter stressors. The use of graphing has proven instrumental and the temporary tattoo's ability to accurately gather
blood pressure data. Unlike, for example, the electronic tattoos that are already on the market that can monitor exposure to UV radiation but are more like thick stickers, a graphing is so thin that it can seriously decrease movement cause data deterioration, meaning that as you and the electronic tattoo moved throughout the day, it's readings will stay true to reality.
The raw data captured by this newly developed blood pressure device is sent to a computer where it's interpreted by an algorithm, then translated into the millimeters of mercury measurement that's typical for reading blood pressure. At this point in the devices development, the data can't yet be transmitted and
read by applications on a smartphone or smart watch. The participants who wore the electronic tattoos remained connected to a circuit board that translated the data, so it's not quite ready for purchase at your local pharmacy yet, but a second generation is being developed that will undergo clinical trials and may hit the market within the next five years.
It'll likely be designed for use with Bluetooth technology and near field communication that will transfer data to whatever smartphone or watch you use and also power the electronic tattoo. The researchers are full that their devices could come in handy not just for people at risk for hypertension, but a wide range of people looking to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, as blood pressure can
also be a measurement of stress. Today's episode is based on the article how the graphine blood pressure tattoo will change monitoring on how stuff works dot com, written by laure L Dove. The brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio because at the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.