Keep the heart beat – Dyaco at TaiSPO 2012!

“A heartbeat is a lot more revealing than you might think,” says Brian Murray, product director at Dyaco, the fitness maker from Taichung. “We’ve come up with a medical application for fitness machines to study your heartbeat, which will measure your general health condition and suggest adjusted exercise programs.”

 
 The patent application runs up to six hundred pages, using complex mathematical and medical formulas developed in t partnership with National Taiwan University. However, the product is very easy for consumers to use; after entering their age and gender into the console all they have to do is wear wireless chest strap, which will transmit information to their treadmill. The console will then come up with exercising suggestions, based on their health profile.

           The calculations are chiefly based on heart rate variability (HRV), a factor already used by companies like Polar. It not only measures the heart rate per minute but also catches any deviations in the frequency of the heartbeats, and figures out what is happening in between.

           Tested on 400 employees at Dyaco, the quick and easy health assessment system accurately detected such issues as high blood pressure and cholesterol – all with just one minute of heart rate monitoring. A demonstration area at the Dyaco booth shows exactly how easy it is to use the system, and what sort of information and suggestions it delivers. Dyaco stresses that the system does not replace medical investigations and advice, but it is a most promising tool to help consumers exercise more usefully. “Once people get motivated, they often work too hard, then they get discouraged and go back to the couch,” says Murray. “Our system will help them to set goals easily and it could even alert them to physical issues before they get started. At another level, it will be very useful tool to train professional athletes.”

           Furthermore, the system will be integrated into the medical range launched by Dyaco, targeted at older people and those with physical weaknesses.