Wearable fitness-trackers keep tabs on anything from heart rate, to calories burned, to rest and recovery, but LVL from BSX Technologies goes one step further. It knows when you’re cranky, and can tell you it might be because you’re dehydrated.
BSX claims that LVL is the first wearable to effectively calculate hydration, which has important effects on the quality of one’s physical and mental activity.
Dustin Freckleton, Founder and CEO of BSX Technologies experienced this first hand as a 24-year old medical student.
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“While preparing for one of our first major block exams, I woke up with an incredible headache that was not uncommon to me, spending sixteen hours a day hunched over a desk staring at super-small font,” Freckleton said, “But that day felt a little bit differently.”
Freckleton suffered a dehydration-induced stroke that left him learning to walk again. He avoided permanent damage, but the shock is what drives Freckleton to shed light on Hydration.
“After learning that dehydration had caused that, the first question, sort of the knee-jerk, was why didn’t my body tell me that this was going to happen?” Freckleton said. “What technology could have prevented this?”
LVL sheds a particular kind of light. They are the first wearable to use near-infrared red light technology, as opposed to “conventional” green light technology, which can harmlessly gather information from ten times deeper in the body than green light and provide more insights, Freckleton said. He said he was first exposed to red light technology in medical school, where red light was being used in the intensive care unit.
“The technology wasn’t measuring hydration at the time, it was solving completely different problems, but the approach and the scientific underpinnings that it used I believed held the promise to solve that eventually,” Freckleton said. “We have been able to, for the first time ever, accurately and in real time measure hydration at the wrist. It’s all possible because of that red light technology, which is a huge departure from where the industry currently is using green light.”
It took BSX technologies about four and a half years to develop their wearable. Freckleton says that being a small startup worked in their favor that way, as they were not subject to the external pressure of the market in the same way that larger companies would be.
In addition to measuring the element that most vitally contributes to human function, BSX considered fashion. The slim straps on the band can be switched out depending on circumstance. The wearable also works with a mobile app, providing the user with constantly-updating information.
As of the writing of this story, the wearable’s kickstarter page has raised nearly $778,000 to crush its $50,000 goal. The product doesn’t ship until early next year, but can be pre-ordered at a discount. Retail price is listed at $199.
Note: LVL’s Kickstarter campaign has now exceeded $1 million as of October 23rd.