Stress by the hour
Experimental Smart Watches Monitor the wearer's Stress Level by sweat
Stepan Ikaev, Hi-tech+
Scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles have developed a prototype of a smartwatch to measure stress levels. The gadget uses miniature sensors to collect sweat and analyze cortisol, a hormone whose level determines a person's stress state, according to a press release Sweating the small stuff: Smartwatch developed at UCLA measures key stress hormone.
Article by Wang et al. Wearable aptamer-field-effect transistor sensing system for noninvasive cortisol monitoring is published in the journal Science Advances.
According to the developers, the new system will be useful in the fight against deep depression and post-traumatic disorders.
As scientists have explained, when a person is stressed, his body produces cortisol — and the higher the stress level, the higher the concentration of cortisol in the blood. This level is easily measured through the traditional procedure of sampling and subsequent blood analysis, but it requires a professional laboratory, while the sample shows the stress level only at the time of blood collection. A group of engineers from the USA has come up with a way to simplify this process and make it more reliable — instead of blood, scientists suggest analyzing sweat and doing it through a smartwatch.
"We have determined that by tracking cortisol in sweat, we will be able to track important changes in a wearable format, as we have shown previously for other small molecules such as metabolites and pharmaceuticals. Because of its small molecular size, cortisol diffuses with sweat, and its level in sweat secretions accurately reflects its level in the body," said study co—author Sam Emaminejad.
The gadget developed by scientists consists of several layers. On the lower layer adjacent to the hand, there is a thin film that uses microfluidic channels to draw in a small amount of sweat from the user's skin. This sweat passes through a sensor that contains aptamers — engineered DNA strands that come into contact with collected samples.
Each cortisol molecule in sweat attaches to a corresponding aptamer—"like a key fits a lock," the scientists explained. As a result, the aptamer changes shape by changing the electric fields on the surface of the neighboring transistor. The microprocessor analyzes the fluctuations of these fields, using new data to determine the current level of cortisol. These levels are displayed on the watch display, telling the owner what state of stress he is in.
Scientists also said that each person produces a different amount of cortisol, so the watch supports individual calibration for each user. The owner can set the default baseline, and then track which activities have a strong effect on his psyche for long periods of time to adjust the setting.
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