A build series
Building the health gear the protocols assume you own.
Health protocols tell you to measure everything: your light, your sleep temperature, your fitness. The gear to do it costs thousands or does not exist. I am a mechatronics student building cheap, open versions, one at a time, and showing the evidence, the cost and the failures.
Follow the builds you want to see finished. The ones with the most followers get built first.
The builds
- Planning A night schedule for a A$800 bed cooler Teaching a basic water cooled mattress pad to change temperature through the night, the feature that makes a A$3,000 smart bed worth the money.
- Building Breathband, a band that paces your breathing A wrist or ankle band that taps at each breath in and out, and uses a heart rate strap to find the breathing pace that calms your body most.
- Idea A light meter for your eyes A clip for glasses or a collar that measures the light actually reaching your eyes and scores each day on three things, a bright day, a dim evening and a dark night.
- Idea A seven minute fitness test at home A free phone app that uses a normal heart rate strap to estimate VO2max, heart rate recovery, leg strength and balance, so you can retest every month.
- Idea A A$60 grip trainer for blood pressure A squeeze handle with a force sensor and an app that coaches the exact routine used in blood pressure trials, in place of a US$600 device.
- Idea A chair that knows when you cheat A pressure pad that times how long you really sit, and an app that only counts a break if your phone confirms you walked.
- Idea What is your bedroom doing to your sleep A bedside box that logs air, temperature, noise and light overnight and lines them up against how you slept.
Build log
- Bed cooler, entry 1: the plan, and what the manual gave away I want my A$800 water cooled mattress pad to change temperature overnight like a A$3,000 smart bed. Before buying parts, I read the manual closely.
- I checked 35 health gadget ideas. Five survived. Most health gadgets worth building already exist, are free on your phone, or rest on evidence that does not hold up. Here is what was left.