Many people with heart conditions must wear a blood pressure monitoring machine to keep track of their heart health. These can be very large and awkward to keep on you, much like the one above.

For decades, people have been wishing that there was a more portable and convenient way to monitor their blood and heart. Researchers may have recently done just that, and you already own one.

Ramakrishna Mukkamala, a biomedical engineer from Michigan State, developed a simple device that you plug into your cell phone. This device has sensors that monitor blood volume and pressure. The device is very simple to use; you simply press your finger against the sensor, and the data is collected. A study conducted with this device proves that it is a viable option.

There are options to have these on your wrist, but Mukkamala found a problem: people don’t use them. They’re easy to forget or simply not want to wear them. However, the answer again was simple: we as a society use our cellphones about 2.5 hours per day, so why not attach the monitor to that device?

The future is here, and we have it in our hands. We are able to take control of our health in a convenient and way.

Eric Cawley is an occasional blogger for Gary Stringham & Associates. Gary provides consulting and expert witness services in embedded systems such as robotics. Feel free to contact Gary at 208-939-6984.