Measuring your blood pressure on your own is beneficial for diagnosing, preventing, and managing high blood pressure. By recording your blood pressure, you can craft an accurate picture of your health for yourself and your doctor.
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Having your blood pressure taken by a cuff that inflates and deflates around your upper arm is reliable. However, it’s not very fast, portable or able to give you continuous measurements. With fitness trackers and basic heart rate monitors, there’s never been an easier time to track and monitor your health. So what about taking and tracking your blood pressure on the go?
Below both current tech companies and one startup company that have or are developing blood pressure monitoring technology will be featured.
Current tech
With QardioArm, you simply use your Apple Watch to take a measurement. QardioArm uses a cuff and pairs with your smartphone/tablet and keeps your measurement history on its app.
Another company, Omron, also uses cuff tech and smartphones. EVOLV allows you to monitor your blood pressure and record the measurements on your iPhone or Android. You simply wrap the monitor around your arm and press a button. Once data is captured it displays it on the device’s screen and instantly shares it with the Android or iPhone app on your phone. EVOLV can also warn you if you have an irregular heartbeat.
Quanttus has a blood pressure tracking app called Q Heart. The app allows users to manually enter blood pressure readings or sync them from Apple’s HealthKit. Users can also enter notes about specific readings, review older readings, and access a chart that shows blood pressure trends. Q Heart can also alert users with blood pressure notifications and reminders.
New Tech
There’s a startup company called Blumio that’s developing blood pressure measuring technology using radar. Radar is typically used for things like tracking ships or speeding cars by monitoring the phase changes in electromagnetic waves as they reflect off of them. Blumio is looking at radar to make it easier and faster to measure blood pressure continuously without the need to squeeze your arm.
Catherine Liao, Blumio cofounder and CEO, says the company is initially planning to roll out the technology as part of an armband you’d wear on your upper arm. Unlike a typical cuff, she says, “it’s not intrusive. You can now get that data continuously.” If Blumio accomplishes this, it would be a big deal as tracking biometrics continuously and noninvasively has historically been difficult.
All the current tech and tech in development is exciting for anyone that wants to better monitor and manage their blood pressure in between doctor visits.