Will we live healthier lifestyles

with wearable technology?

According to recent research from Aviva, the number of UK adults using tech devices to monitor their health and fitness has risen by 75% in the last year, as almost 10 million adults now use them.[i] Wearables, such as the Apple Watch or Fitbit, are being worked into everyday life to help people improve not just their health and fitness, but also their quality of life.

As Dr Doug Wright, Medical Director at Aviva, recognises: ‘Greater acceptance of healthcare technology is a step in the right direction. In the long-term, digital technology can help relieve pressure on stretched healthcare services and give people more autonomy in preventing and treating health conditions.’

With human wellbeing as the focus of this increasingly popular technology, there is hope that such devices will soon be able to enhance our physicality and prevent the onset of illness. This could alleviate the strain on national health services and save the country billions. But will this make us more in sync? More connected? Safer? Or will we have to sacrifice our independence and privacy as part of it?

Let’s take a look at where wearable technology all began – and how each innovation has paved its way for the next. Could today’s technology be the precursor for something even greater?

[i] Aviva Consumer Attitudes Survey, 2017