Now updated, BioButton is David Sinclair’s wearable of choice

BioIntelliSense has announced the next version of its BioButton health monitor. This is a coin sized device that is the wearable of choice of David Sinclair.

If you’ve never heard of him, David Sinclair is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. He is best known for his academic work in the field of ageing.

Essential reading: Best fitness trackers and health gadgets

You may find it interesting to read David’s book on slowing and reversing ageing. The best seller is called Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To (view on Amazon). In it, he describes the exercise and supplement regime he is using to stem off ageing.

David is considered by many to be a leading authority in the understanding of why we age. There are lots of podcasts around with him as the guest speaker. Check out one of them as you might find it interesting listening.

BioButton monitors his body 1,000 times per second

Of most interest to us was the wearable that he uses to keep tabs on his health and fitness. No, this is not a Garmin, Fitbit or the Apple Watch. It turns out to be something called a BioButton. This is a clinical grade ECG and heart monitor.

As its name indicates, the little device is the size of a button – about an inch in diameter. Attach it under your shirt to the middle of your chest and from there it will monitor your vitals stats 1,000 times per second. Not surprisingly, David claims wearing something like this is much better than going for the usual annual health checkup. Most wearable tech lovers would agree with this statement.

The Harvard professor says you can do much of this with consumer fitness trackers and smartwatches. The difference is that BioButton is FDA approved so is the real deal.

Doctors use this type of information to diagnose patients. The wearable is mainly used in clinical settings – to send patients home early who have experienced a heart attack or had heart surgery. It is a way of remotely monitoring them with clinical-grade accuracy. Hospitals save thousands of dollars as this represents a more cost-effective way of doing things.

BioButton can send information gathered to the doctor or nurse that is monitoring the patient. Ultimately, millions of people will be connected remotely with such devices to their health care providers. The goal is to alert a person to potential health issues in early stages, or even before they happen. A decade or two in the future, doctors or AI may look at the data and deduce – hey, this person is about to have a heart attack. Send in the robot to take care of him.

Can I buy BioButton?

Unfortunately, BioButton is not really something you can pick up on Amazon. Earlier this month, BioIntelliSense announced the next generation of its wearable. It tracks more than 20 vital signs and physiologic biometrics continuously for up to 16 days on a single charge. This includes  temperature, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, body position, activity levels, gait analysis, activity, sleep, infection-like symptoms and more.

As mentioned, BioButton is used for medical-grade monitoring across care settings namely in-patient status monitoring. Those in this field can request a demo by filling in a form on the BioIntelliSense website. The rest of us will need to wait until the little device becomes commercially available.

What is promising is new tech that is being developed that might bring this kind of tracking to your run-of-the mill fitness tracker or smartwatch. The leader of the pack seems to be Rockley Photonics which is moving closer to public release of its clinic-on-the-wrist wearable. If all goes well with their tech, in 2023 the wearable on your wrist might be able to track core body temperature, glucose, hydration and much more continuously and accurately. This type of monitoring is the future.

Like this article? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and never miss out!