Itch Tracker for Apple Watch

Nestle has come up with a clever solution for tracking scratching during sleep. There is now an app for the Apple Watch called Itch Tracker. It measures duration of brief scratching occurrences and overall time through out the night.

As someone who has experienced horrible sleep due to itching for over twenty years this Apple Watch App is exciting to come across. In my own case I was able to finally stop the itch and start sleeping better through biohacking and quantified self practices. Eliminating grains and reducing my blood sugar seemed to stop the eczema outbreaks which would occur nightly on the sides of my feet and hands.

Via Nestle:

In addition to its intended use by individuals to measure their scratching, the Itch Tracker application will be used by scientists to collect and analyze large quantities of data in a form of a study using ResearchKit, which is an open source framework for medical research introduced by Apple.  The Itch Tracker application was developed by the innovation team of Nestlé Skin Health SHIELD (Skin Health Investigation, Education, Longevity Development), which is Nestlé Skin Health’s global innovation initiative to advance the future of skin health.

Description

Itch Tracker for Apple Watch users measures how much you scratch during sleep. This is an app using ResearchKit (an open source framework for medical research introduced by Apple) designed for a survey on itch and targets everyone who is interested whether or not he/she is suffering from scratching.
Itch (pruritus) is one of the most common health problems and sometimes seriously impairs your quality of life. It often causes a vicious cycle of itch-scratch. Itch severity is difficult to precisely evaluate. Self-assessment is commonly used but unfortunately lacks objectiveness, especially if itch severity during sleep is evaluated. Itch Tracker is a newly-developed handy method to objectively evaluate your scratching during sleep.

Why should everyone try Itch Tracker?

You might scratch a lot while asleep without realizing it. You can take advantage of Itch Tracker by generally understanding the status of your scratching by an objective method of evaluation.

Outline

In this survey, the duration of your scratching while asleep will be measured by your Apple Watch using a newly-developed program for detecting scratching motions, after you answer a questionnaire asking about your background (gender, age, medical history, etc.) and history/status of your itch. The measurement result of scratching time/duration will be shown on the iPhone screen at the end of the survey.

Objective of survey

The objective of this survey is to investigate on potential factors that might affect, or be correlated with, scratching time during sleep. We aim at making the knowledge obtained by this survey serve for developing a better method to evaluate itch severity, which could help develop better treatments for itch in the future.

Who can participate?

Those who have both Apple Watch and iPhone, read/understand the information and agree can participate. Agreement by proxies such as a family member is necessary in case of children or difficulty in reading/understanding. If you find it difficult to wear your Apple Watch during sleep, you should not participate.

Time you need

This is a 2-day survey (1st day: background and bedtime questionnaires and start of scratching measurement while asleep, 2nd day: termination of scratching measurement while asleep and wake-up questionnaire). The questionnaires will take about 10 minutes on the 1st day (background: about 9 minutes, bedtime: about 1 minute) and about 1 minute on the 2nd day. During and after the survey period, you can repeat the process of bedtime questionnaire, measurement of scratching while asleep, and wake-up questionnaire as many times as you like.


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.