Scientists at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center have teamed up with health technology company CareEvolution to study whether or not wrist-worn devices, such as activity trackers and smartwatches, can help people with long COVID manage and reduce the severity of their symptoms through a technique called"pacing yourself."
Long COVID patients were also found to be dealing with an increased heart rate after standing up or walking, causing dizziness and heart palpitations. "So what the wrist-worn-wearable does is gives you a metric of your body battery, very similar to a cell phone battery, a number from zero to 100, saying how much energy you have for that day. So it gives you feedback in real time instead of having that delay of 48 hours, so that you can say, okay, you know what? My battery is low. I need to rest now and recharge, or my battery is high. I can take on that task today," Vogel said.
One of the researchers used her own experience with long COVID to help design the study. She said she and other patients often experience physical exhaustion up to two days later and she hopes this will study will help people better manage their symptoms.About 65 million people are living with long COVID and currently no widely effective treatments exist, according to Scripps Research. Long COVID is a collection of symptoms that start and continue after infection.