Seizures are frightening, sneaky, and can be life-threatening. While epileptic seizures are the most common—1 out of 26 people will develop the disease in their lifetimes—seizures also can result from Alzheimer’s, stroke, genetic factors, brain tumors and infections with high fevers. Just knowing a seizure is imminent can mean being able to avoid a medical emergency.
The Embrace, another impressive wearable to come out of the MIT Media Lab, is a wristband that detects the stress factors that signal incipient seizures and warns the wearer. If the wearer does not respond, the device contacts a designated person, who can get to the wearer quickly. The Embrace is an Indiegogo project that is now shipping its beta version to backers, although universities and hospitals are already using its technological predecessors, the E3 and E4, for research into early seizure discovery.
As the U.S. population continues to age, the incidence of diseases leading to seizures, such as stroke and Alzheimer’s, will also rise. The Embrace and its E-siblings would definitely seem to be in the right place and time.,