Microsoft's New Smart Bra Could Stop You From Over Eating 299
walterbyrd writes "A team of engineers at Microsoft Research have developed a high-tech bra that's intended to monitor women's stress levels and dissuade them from emotional over-eating. The undergarment has sensors that track the user's heart rate, respiration, skin conductance and movement — all of which can indicate the type of stressful emotions that lead to over-eating, according to Microsoft researchers. The data is sent to a smartphone app, which then alerts users about their mood."
Re:Wrong fundamental assumption (Score:4, Interesting)
Some recent scientific results (*) have clarified obesity, and are completely at odds with every "common knowledge" explanation. The bad news is that we don't know what causes obesity and there's nothing anyone can do [currently] to combat it. The good news is that it's not related to a) what you eat(**) b) how much you eat, c) your willpower, d) genetics, or e) exercise.
I have not done a scientific study, but I am pretty sure that if I eat three Denny's meals per day and do no exercise, I will become obese. I know some obese people, and I can verify that their caloric intake vs. mine (minus exercise) does not net out to 30 calories per day.
If that's not the case, please let me know... I am tired of cardio and would be interested in partaking in their forthcoming Hobbit-themed breakfasts if there's no relationship to weight gain. ;-)
Why Microsoft is failing. (Score:4, Interesting)
They clearly haven't looked at this from the users perspective.
I don't want some device telling me I am emotional and stressed and shouldn't be eating. Fact is I would probably smash the device after a while.
Of course on top of that, it hurts my emotional and stress levels to be told that I am emotional and am stressed out.
The whole thing is one big fail.
Re:No, you're tone deaf. (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you know what "tone deaf" means? It doesn't mean "wrong". It means that they didn't consider the cultural context around their actions. They unwittingly did something that many people would find offensive.
Here's the tone: they are trying to help.
Haha, sure they're trying to help ... their bottom line. Companies exist to make money. They're not doing this as a public service.
It is in their best interest not to offend their customers. It does not help anyone to shame people for being overweight. They would have been better off marketing it as a general fitness tool, rather than focusing on over-eating.
Can you understand that? No one is saying it shouldn't exist.
Re:Wrong fundamental assumption (Score:5, Interesting)
I have not done a scientific study, but I am pretty sure that if I eat three Denny's meals per day and do no exercise, I will become obese.
Well maybe you would, but are you saying that *anyone* would? The science (and many of our experiences) would indicate that the answer is "no".
I'll give my anecdotal evidence. When I was 16-20 years old, I would eat an astounding amount of food. I could eat anything. In one meal, I would eat a whole chicken, a side of fries, a big piece of cake for dessert, and drink 48 oz of soda while doing it. It makes me a little ill now just to think about it. And that would be after eating a Big Mac, large fries, and a milkshake for lunch. It didn't even seem like a lot to me then. And you know what? I was really skinny. 6'1" tall, and 140 lbs. I did no exercise.
Then at 20 years old, I put on 50 lbs in something like 8 months. I still wasn't fat, really. I just wasn't super-skinny anymore. And I hadn't changed my exercise or diet. Then I stayed at 190lbs for about 5 years. How much I ate seemed to have no effect on my weight. I could eat like I did when I as 18, and I stayed 190 lbs. I could spend a month eating half as much food, and I would stay 190 lbs. After those 5 years, though, not changing my exercise or diet, I started putting on weight and got up around 206, and I started feeling a little pudgy. I cut *way* back on my caloric intake-- like I ate half as much as I used to-- and I started exercising quite a lot, which brought me down to about 198-200lbs, which is where I am today.
Wanting to get back down to 190, I've tried starving myself and working out a lot. Eating much less and leaving myself hungry made me feel much worse on a daily basis, but I didn't lose any weight. Working out made me feel much better and look better, but again, I didn't lose weight. The only time I've dipped below 200 lbs was during a stint of unemployment for a few months, when I lost 5 lbs. I was eating more calories, not watching my diet at all, and not particularly exercising more. My theory is that it had something to do with the fact that I was relaxed and happy, instead of being miserable at work all the time.