Using your smartwatch to reduce stress

The old adage "never let them see you sweat," doesn't apply in the electrical and computer engineering lab of Rose Faghih, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering. In fact, Faghih seeks sweat, the kind that beads on your upper lip when you're nervous -- skin conductance response (SCR) as the change in sweat activity is scientifically called. It is through that measure that Faghih is reporting the ability to monitor stress and even help lower it.

To collect and study these physiological signals of stress, Faghih's research team has built a new closed-loop technology by placing two electrodes on smartwatch-type wearables. Once the signal for stress is detected, a reminder is sent through the smartwatch, for example, to listen to relaxing music to calm down. Thus, the loop is closed as the detected stress launches the subtle suggestion.

"This study is one of the very first steps toward the ultimate goal of monitoring brain responses using wearable devices and closing the loop to keep a person's stress state within a pleasant range," reports Faghih in the journal IEEE Xplore.

Electrodermal activity (i.e., the electrical conductivity of the skin) carries important information about the brain's cognitive stress. Faghih uses signal processing techniques to track the hidden stress state and design an appropriate control algorithm for regulating the stress state and closing the loop. The results of the research illustrate the efficiency of the proposed approach and validate its feasibility of being implemented in real life.

"To the best of our knowledge, this research is one of the very first to relate the cognitive stress state to the changes in SCR events and design the control mechanism to close the loop in a real-time simulation system," said UH doctoral student and lead study author Fekri Azgomi, who accomplished the task of closed-loop cognitive stress regulation in a simulation study based on experimental data.

Due to the increased ubiquity of wearable devices capable of measuring cognitive stress-related variables, the proposed architecture is an initial step toward treating cognitive disorders using non-invasive brain state decoding.

"The final results verify that the proposed architecture has great potential to be implemented in a wrist-worn wearable device and used in daily life," said Faghih.

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Controlling insulin production with a smartwatch

Many modern fitness trackers and smartwatches feature integrated LEDs. The green light emitted, whether continuous or pulsed, penetrates the skin and can be used to measure the wearer's heart rate during physical activity or while at rest.

These watches have become extremely popular. A team of ETH researchers now wants to capitalise on that popularity by using the LEDs to control genes and change the behaviour of cells through the skin. The team is led by Martin Fussenegger from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel. He explains the challenge to this undertaking: "No naturally occurring molecular system in human cells responds to green light, so we had to build something new."

Green light from the smartwatch activates the gene

The ETH professor and his colleagues ultimately developed a molecular switch that, once implanted, can be activated by the green light of a smartwatch.

The switch is linked to a gene network that the researchers introduced into human cells. As is customary, they used HEK 293 cells for the prototype. Depending on the configuration of this network -- in other words, the genes it contains -- it can produce insulin or other substances as soon as the cells are exposed to green light. Turning the light off inactivates the switch and halts the process.

Standard software

As they used the standard smartwatch software, there was no need for the researchers to develop dedicated programs. During their tests, they turned the green light on by starting the running app. "Off-the-shelf watches offer a universal solution to flip the molecular switch," Fussenegger says. New models emit light pulses, which are even better suited to keeping the gene network running.

The molecular switch is more complicated, however. A molecule complex was integrated into the membrane of the cells and linked to a connecting piece, similar to the coupling of a railway carriage. As soon as green light is emitted, the component that projects into the cell becomes detached and is transported to the cell nucleus where it triggers an insulin-producing gene. When the green light is extinguished, the detached piece reconnects with its counterpart embedded in the membrane.

Controlling implants with wearables

The researchers tested their system on both pork rind and live mice by implanting the appropriate cells into them and strapping a smartwatch on like a rucksack. Opening the watch's running program, the researchers turned on the green light to activate the cascade.

"It's the first time that an implant of this kind has been operated using commercially available, smart electronic devices -- known as wearables because they are worn directly on the skin," the ETH professor says. Most watches emit green light, a practical basis for a potential application as there is no need for users to purchase a special device.

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