We want multi-tasking in every area of our lives today: mobile phones must keep us in contact, tell us the weather forecast, send email, and pay our bills. Soon they will be able to babysit our kids. So it is not enough that clothes simply clothe us, and now, thanks to the company Bodymedia, they can also keep us healthy.

Bodymedia is a company that was created in 1999 in order to help people monitor and visualize the status of their personal daily health routines. Its program allows users to play a more proactive role in the management of their own well-being.

To this end, Bodymedia has created a line of stylish, comfortable and wearable health-tracking products, as well as an easy-to-use monitoring system that integrates seamlessly into everyday life. They were created to promote wellness and to allow users to actually "measure" how they feel.

Bodymedia's "Sensewear" was designed to monitor such things as heart and respiration rates, skin temperature, caloric burn data, and other physiological measures. The Sensewear line includes arm bands that monitor these parameters. This information is wirelessly transmitted to a PC, then uploaded to the company's secure web site; it is then laid out in an easy-to-use format on the member's personal web page. This information can actually be viewed from anywhere that web access is available. Customer's data will be kept confidential, but it can be used to uncover potential health problems before they arise.

Astro Teller, Ph. D., the CEO and cofounder of Bodymedia, met JoYS to explain more about this exciting new innovation.

How does Sensewear work?

Sensewear is an innovative product that will allow people to measure their wellness. Our Chief Medical Officer and Harvard graduate, Craig Liden, M.D., has teamed with our technology group, many of who came from Carnegie Mellon University, to create a total system-solution for measuring and monitoring key parameters of health and wellness. To our knowledge, this is the first time in history that moment-to-moment personal data on such things as sleep habits and caloric burn will be available to anyone seeking a healthy lifestyle. The important attribute of Sensewear to stress, is that you and I will be able to review this information confidentially at home, at work, or wherever we use our computer to get online. That's empowering. Our goal is to help people get fit, prevent health problems, control chronic conditions, and simply take control of their own wellness. Dr. Liden has created a health profile that helps individuals to identify personal barriers that may impede them from feeling their best. This profile, along with Bodymedia's HealthManager and Sensewear create a complete description of a person's state of being.

What type of health statistics can be monitored with the system?

Bodymedia has carefully chosen staff members with scientific backgrounds to ensure that our products provide comprehensive and accurate information about bodily functions such as sleeping, eating, and caloric burn.