Nature is increasingly being utilized in healthcare to increase exercise and reduce stress, with more physicians prescribing park use for a variety of health concerns. I would like to utilize the Nano BLE Sense to create a wearable (hat mounted) nature sensor that can gather data about the users environment, including exercise (accelerometer), light exposure (in lux and spectral ranges by time of day), and natural noise environment, tracking what I experience indoors as compared to outside, and see how it relates to health. Existing research tells us that exercise and bright afternoon light can improve sleep, and the noise frequencies of sound I'm exposed to can improve concentration. I'm still tinkering with the idea, looking for something inexpensive people can attach to the brim of their ball cap. After I build a prototype and develop the app I would like a few for research. With a combination of the nature data, health surveys, and another engineering project with a handheld ECG (autonomic regulation), I can build statistical models to see what elements of nature are important for various health concerns, allowing physicians to prescribe specific experiences (afternoon nature, nature viewing, nature walking) to meet health goals.
The same board and hat mounted device can also be attached to a heart monitor and LEDs, providing real time feedback of an individual's autonomic regulation as though it's a power bar in a video game. If your power is low, you need to calm down and self-regulate so that you perform better in life. I don't know how (yet) to record nature/environmental data while it receives from the chest strap heart monitor (I am not the engineer on that), but being able to use the same device for both will make it easier to develop and give me more data (I would like to record autonomic regulation and environmental data at the same time, even if I can't also give biofeedback while I record environmental data with the Nano BLE Sense).
Nano BLE Sense for NanoRamaCH
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