Advances in digital home technologies can help retirees maintain healthier, happier lives as they grow older.
As more seniors opt to age in place, staying true to the life they’ve built, advances in digital home technologies can help them maintain healthier, happier lives as they grow older. Here are just a few of the in-home trends that could help make those years golden.
Home monitoring systems use sensors to track a person’s movements, which can indicate potential safety or health-related problems while being less invasive than a camera. Caregivers can be notified if something appears amiss.
Technology similar to hospital monitoring devices gathers critical information about users’ vital signs during normal sleep cycles, allowing them to note trends that may indicate health issues.
The grandPad – a closed-system (meaning it can’t be updated and users can’t surf the internet) tablet – allows tech-challenged users to connect with loved ones through video chatting, voice emails and photo sharing. Limited additional features, such as games and weather info, are included.
Automatic pill devices dispense the correct dosages, then signal it’s time to take the medication with an alarm and/or flashing lights. Optional services include the ability to alert caregivers when loved ones take their pills (or when they don’t). Several offerings are available.
Alarm clocks with myopia-friendly readouts remind users of important tasks and appointments (up to 25 per day), alleviating some of the stress of keeping tabs on loved ones.
More innovations are on the horizon. One potentially life-saving one? The Inirv React (in Beta development) monitors levels of smoke and flammable gas in the home, and lets users remotely control the temperature of their stoves using their smartphones.
Sources: mytrusense.com; alarm.com/wellness; earlysense.com; grandpad.net; reminder-rose.com; inirv.com/home
