It seems like there’s an app these days for everything. From diaper changing to water intake, from stocks to tracking your risk for an opioid overdose. There is a market for anything if you look under the right corner.
Those who might suffer from an opioid overdose might now be able to manage their lives a bit better. This is because there is an app that can help track their health. It isn’t like a fit bit or your usual smart monitoring.
No, instead of this app actually monitors a person’s breathing. It detects if their breathing slows down or stops completely. Obviously, this can be used for more than those who might have an overdose risk. But it is meant for this.
The Second Chance app was designed to detect breathing in those who suffer from opioid addictions. It positively discovered symptoms of opioid overdoses 9 times out of 10. This was in a study in Canada.
The study was done in Canada because it is legal there to inject illegal drugs under supervision.
The developers of the app are actually pitching it to the Food and Drug Administration. This is because they want to be able to market it as a lifesaving monitor. A monitor specifically targeted toward those who take opioids.
They want it fast-tracked as soon as possible. That way it can be on the market sooner to start helping save the lives of those who need it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that there were over 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017. Forty-seven thousand six hundred of those deaths were due to opioid overdoses. That is nearly 68 percent of those deaths.
Opioid overdoses kill by slowly stopping their breathing. That is why an app that can track that is so helpful. People may not even notice at first they aren’t breathing well. At least not until the potentially pass out. An app that can alert them or others can save lives.
More than 115 die a day in the U.S. from an opioid overdose. That is a number that never needs to be so high again. Not when there’s an app for it now.
The most interesting part about the app is that it doesn’t need any other equipment to monitor you. The app basically turns a smartphone into a solar system. This means it transmits sound waves we cannot here.
The sound waves bounce across your body and record your movement. Movement such as the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe. It is captured by the reflection and recorded into the microphone of your smartphone.
This means that breathing motions can be monitored by the app on the smartphone. It is actually ingenious and doesn’t require any other steps and purchases. That is good because many people don’t have the money to spare on fancy accessories.
It is a very early model that is still in its testing stages. That doesn’t mean it isn’t an amazing invention that is bound to change lives in the years that come.