The healthcare industry's overall opinion of Apple Watch appears to be lukewarm. When the wearable was announced last fall, it was surrounded by much intrigue, but the fascination more or less dissipated.
Many critics have said Apple Watch won't target the people who are in the most need of health or fitness interventions. Greg Caressi, senior vice president of healthcare and life sciences at Frost & Sullivan, previously said, "What we see from existing wearable users indicate the user base will likely skew heavily towards those who are already aware of and tracking their fitness and health, and who are relatively healthy… While the [Apple Watch] will likely expand the user base of wearables beyond the current quantified self-movement to some of the 'worried well,' it won't likely penetrate many of those who are the highest risk and highest cost as long as it remains a consumer device."
But might it?
In a Forbes contributed piece, Dan Diamond suggests that despite Apple Watch not having all the functions and features it was rumored to have — a blood-pressure monitor, glucose tracker or pulse oximeter, for example — it does have one key app that could drastically change people's lives: its touch-base sensor.
"All the Apple Watch has to do to be successful — all it has to do to make us healthier — is do one thing: Get us to stand up. And the device is perfectly designed to do just that," Mr. Diamond writes.
The Apple Watch tracks the amount of time a person spends moving, exercising and standing. The watch's sensor can notify a person using pulses to remind him or her to stand up.
"A gentle, persistent wrist-tap? It's a personal touch that will be hard to ignore," Mr. Diamond writes.
Americans' overarching sedentary lifestyle bodes poorly for the collective health of the country, and simply standing can help alleviate some of that negative strain.
"It's clear that sitting disease is a real public health issue, and it's only getting worse. And our sedentary habits are contributing to a host of healthcare problems that appear to be preventable," Mr. Diamond writes. "Don't overlook Apple Watch's potential to improve healthcare. Because if it can get us standing, that's a start."
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