Testing Your Stress Level Using Your Smartphone
The only thing we may love about our smartphones are the so many endless applications that we can download for our everyday uses, whether it’s for work, fun, or just time pass. Now the next addition to the collections of applications is coming online which is a stress test according to researchers.
According to the new research presented last week at ICE/ENDO 2014, where there was a joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago, people and the doctors can measure the levels of the stress hormone cortisol by using a tube, some software and a saliva sample. The lead investigator Dr. Joel Ehrenkranz, the director of diabetes and endocrinology at Intermountain Healthcare in Murray, Utah stated that they “have designed a method by which anyone with a smartphone will be able to measure their salivary cortisol level quickly, easily and inexpensively.”
To do a quantitative salivary cortisol test in the United States, the charge may go up to $50, and it takes up to a week to get the results, but when it comes to using the smartphone, the test will cost less than $5 and you’ll be able to get the results in less than 10 minutes. This is a way for the individuals to monitor their personal biometric stress levels in an easy and an inexpensive way. The device which they have designed is easy to use on all cell phones, all platforms and all of the form factors. It just consists of a case, a light pipe, and a lens. It does not use battery power and it’s unbreakable and reusable. The Ministry of Public Health of Thailand is planning to introduce the cortisol test later this year.
