The Quantified Heart

Wearable devices that can accurately measure blood pressure, a crucial parameter for cardiovascular health, are just entering the consumer market. It is expected that in a few years more and more of us will be able to monitor our own blood pressure in our everyday life.

How will we use these wearables and the data they collect? How will this change our habits, routines and lifestyles? What opportunities will this technology afford us? We believe the best way to explore these questions is to work collaboratively with the worldwide Quantified Self community, where the self-tracking pioneers are.

We aim to start the active phase of the research by June 2019 and to conclude the study by late August. The active phase of the research will start when all participants have been confirmed and all instrumentation is ready for use. As a participant, you will be invited to self-monitor in your everyday life using the Omron RS7 (and, depending on your preferences, the Fitbit), and to participate in online sessions to share your experiences and insights. However, the exact nature of the research, time commitment, measurement protocols, and analysis will be developed collaboratively, with the goal of supporting each participant’s learning goals.

The study will mostly happen remotely: as a participant, you will be shipped the instrumentation at home, and the main research activities will be conducted through webinars and individual videocalls. We also plan to organize several events, in the Netherlands and the US, where we will share our joint findings. As a participant, you will be invited to join these events.