Image by thinkingdigital via Flickr

Walter de Brouwer called on the audience at Thinking Digital at the Sage in Newcastle this morning to record data from their bodies as a way of preventing illness.

De Brouwer’s explained that his motivation came from watching his son hooked up to an intensive care unit realising that we only measure variables from our body when we’re seriously ill or dying.

De Brouwer said that most people know their age, weight and age, but typically lie about at least one of the three. He described Kevin Kelly’s Quantified Self project where participants log personal heathcare data such as blood pressure, physical activity, weight and blood pressure.

Participants in the project are inevitably self-motivated and aren’t necessarily going to benefit from preventative medical advice but the project provides a window to the future of how healthcare might work.

Recording personal health data puts the consumer in control of their healthcare and will inevitably lead to a do-it-yourself (DIY) healthcare system. In future doctors will prescribe applications not medicine said De Brouwer closing the feedback loop between monitoring and personal action.

The rise of so-called cyberchondria, whereby consumers self-diagnose using the internet is inevitable said De Brouwer, but predicts that the market for self-diagnosis and auto analysis will be massive.

The technology already exists. Monitoring devices are getting smaller, smart phones have the functionality to record, monitor and share data, and back office monitoring systems could be replicated from other markets such as OnStar in the automotive sector.

De Brouwer is founder and CEO of SCANADU a business that aims to help individuals understand and track their personal healthcare. It’s a business and market to watch in the future.