A new sensing technique being developed at Simon Fraser University shows that sweating through exercise may be your workout desire, but it also helps give people a new understanding of their health.
Woo Soo Kim, a researcher at Simon Fraser University, is part of an international research team that is developing a low-cost 3D printable wearable sweat sensor. The research is being conducted in collaboration with researchers at Zhejiang University in Simon Fraser University's Additive Manufacturing Lab. The team recently published a review of advances in sweat sensors in the journal Bio-Design and Manufacturing.
According to Wu Xiujin, innovations in technology design over the past decade have witnessed the rapid development of wearable sensors, including sweat sensors. These wearable sensors can assess a person's health by analyzing chemicals and other health information in sweat.
Unlike other biological fluids such as collecting and detecting saliva or blood, the method is non-invasive and does not require help. These sweat sensors can monitor the body's biochemical information during exercise, including ion or lactate levels, which can serve as an indicator of moisture and overall physiological and mental health. The data collected can also play a role in assessing a variety of health factors, including stress and nutrition.
"The chemical composition and physical information extracted from sweat are very valuable in reflecting the health of the human body," Wu said. "Collecting sweat directly from the surface of the skin is an easy-to-follow, straightforward approach that avoids privacy concerns in physical implementation. These characteristics mean that sweat has the potential to become a widely available sample type that can be monitored in a non-invasive manner. ”
While there are now more and more low-cost wearable sensors that can collect and analyze sweat to assess a person's health, Wu's 3D printed model integrates mechanically flexible electronic chemical sensors and wireless communication capabilities.
Typically, sensors can be attached to the skin using flexible materials such as foam, fabric, flexible plastic, or rubber, ideally powered by a wireless charger. Wu Xiujin pointed out that sweat metabolites can provide important information that can be effectively used to assess the overall health of the wearer. However, he cautions that further research is needed to verify the correlation between information from sweat and blood, using in vivo validation tests to advance meaningful biomedical applications.