Article Summary
A new dental flosser has been developed with a built-in sensor that can monitor stress by detecting cortisol levels in saliva. This innovative device, which provides results in minutes, could help users recognize when it’s time to seek help for rising stress levels. Unchecked chronic stress can lead to health conditions such as heart disease and mental disorders. The flosser is an easy-to-use, at-home stress testing solution that could help make stress monitoring more accessible and less anxiety-inducing.
What This Means for You
- Easier stress monitoring: The new dental flosser allows for convenient, at-home stress testing, which could help users identify rising stress levels and seek help promptly.
- Reduced anxiety: Since the device is integrated into a dental flosser, the anxiety associated with traditional testing methods, such as mouthguards or complicated procedures, is minimized.
- Better health outcomes: Early detection of rising stress levels can lead to seeking help earlier, potentially preventing long-term health complications associated with unchecked chronic stress.
- Potential for future developments: This breakthrough technology could pave the way for more at-home, user-friendly health monitoring devices in the future.
Original Post
Over time, stress and anxiety can build to a point where life’s challenges become overwhelming and cause physical effects.
Now, in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers report a dental floss pick with a built-in sensor that could monitor stress as part of a daily routine. The device, which accurately senses levels of the stress hormone cortisol in minutes, could help users recognize when it’s time to get help.
Unchecked chronic stress can lead to health conditions such as heart disease and mental disorders. Catching rising stress levels early is important, but daily blood tests at a doctor’s office aren’t feasible for most people, and self-reported questionnaires are subjective. That’s why researchers are developing point-of-care tests that measure cortisol levels in saliva, which mirror the hormone’s concentrations in blood.
Although the saliva tests are promising, many of them require people to remember to perform the complicated analyses or use a bulky mouthguard. In addition, the anxiety of performing a test can cause stress levels to spike. So, Sameer Sonkusale and colleagues took a completely different approach by integrating a cortisol sensor into a dental floss pick—something many people use every day.
The team’s dental pick fe
Key Terms
- Dental flosser
- Stress monitoring
- Cortisol sensor
- Saliva testing
- At-home health monitoring
- Chronic stress
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