Wearable refers to minicomputers that we wear in our clothes. These could be different electronic devices in shirts, socks, footwear, and accessories such as glasses, headphones, belts, watches.

With the advancement of technology and imagination, it is difficult to find a limit to these devices. Who knows if they don't end up getting chips implanted directly into people?
One of the most common examples seen on a day-to-day basis are smart watches like the Apple Watch.

This notifies calls, messages, and monitors heart rate, daily steps, the number of calories burned daily and sleep cycles, among other functions. Other less common examples are garments with electrodes that allow arrhythmias to be controlled and predict future heart problems; as well as other garments that monitor blood glucose levels. All the data that is collected is stored in the cloud database and it can even be programmed to send the collected information to medical personnel.

Digital health, as a set of information and communication technologies (ICTs) used in the health environment in terms of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and health management, is a lever for change in health systems that it can allow cost savings and improve efficiency.

Over the years, wearable vital signs monitoring devices have increasingly contributed to the development of society and especially in the healthcare area. The continuous technological evolution allows these devices to improve the quality of life and health care of users by obtaining and storing data on their vital signs. A great advantage in the current situation is that wearable monitoring devices with all their features and technological advances have become a great tool to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Currently, these devices contribute to the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in different ways, with simple actions such as taking body temperature, heart rate and sleep cycles.

A clear and documented example is the case of Petri Hollmen, who wears an Oura ring every day and was diagnosed with covid-19 thanks to it, even without presenting any visible symptoms. Hollmen received a notification from his wearable indicating low levels of "recovery." Although he did not present any symptoms associated with covid-19, the diagnostic test was carried out, which turned out to be positive, since he had recently returned from a trip. Scientists believe that wearable technology could predict and help prepare society against upcoming waves of viruses.

Wearables provide personalization of patient health, optimization and prioritization of resources, improvement of the doctor-patient relationship, bringing professional services closer to geographically remote areas and, most importantly, patient involvement in his own health care.

It is surprising how 4G technology is expanding its medical capabilities and making it possible to turn smart mobile phones into reliable blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, thermometers, glucometers, ECGs, etc. All of this will make it possible to attend more comfortably, more efficiently and, above all, more sustainable, to patients, especially elderly people, who regularly visit Primary Care consultations, as the use of smartphones and tablets increases in this sector of the population.

So, do wearables contribute to society and to the daily life of their users? Although these devices have a wide variety of advantages, they also have disadvantages such as the feeling of privacy invasion and discomfort over time.

For example, in users with fast heart rates, constantly monitoring their heart rate can cause anxiety, stress and even increase their heart rate. The same could happen with diabetic patients keeping track of glucose levels.

In addition, there are many patients with chronic conditions that use this technology as part of their daily lives, collecting information about their bodies. While this can benefit your doctors, this data can lead to confusion and anxiety for patients.

There are some gaps in knowledge and barriers to the implementation of wearable health technology, such as lack of awareness and trust, lack of interoperability or lack of quality and security control on whether they meet security, privacy, reliability and transparency standards.

This is important as more and more health professionals are prescribing digital resources to their patients as a complement to their visit.

All of this is framed within a doctor-patient relationship that is changing and has gone from being paternalistic to being more collaborative and participatory.

In conclusion (se here), wearables have both advantages and disadvantages; if you learn how to use them carefully and safely, they can be very useful.