On wearable devices..

Wear a sensor, monitor your activity

Your heart rate you can continuously see

Your heart rhythm it can record if you feel

Your heart is fluttering, your activity level it can reveal

Whether your sleep is restorative or not it can tell you

Armed with this avalanche of information all you have to do

Is use this information to make changes to your lifestyle

And see positive results on your health after a while

To your doctor, this information you can present

After all, you’ve done your homework like a good student..

*

It sounds like a great tool to help people take control

Of their health, play a much more active role

In making necessary changes to improve their well-being

Deriving feedback from the data that they are seeing..

*

I have a confession to make here- I do not

Believe in wearing these devices myself- the thought

Of a machine recording every step that I take

And noting my vital signs with every move I make

Is scary for me- I would rather not know

Whether my heart rate is too fast or too slow

Despite being a physician I tend to catastrophize

When any number related to my body outside the normal values lies

Most people feel more equipped to fight their illness

When they have numeric data, but I just get more stressed..

*

If my condition required objective data collection

I would prefer those to be reviewed by my physician

Get a summary of the results and a plan of action

Instead of obsessing over numbers to the point of distraction