Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a wireless sweat sensor that can accurately detect levels of cortisol, a natural compound that is commonly thought of as the body's stress hormone.
According to the Phys.org website, the development of an inexpensive and accurate device for measuring cortisol could allow for more widespread and easier monitoring of stress but also of other conditions including anxiety and depression -- all of which are correlated with changes in cortisol levels.
The new sweat sensor is made of graphene, and includes a plastic sheet with tiny pores through which passes the sweat into highly sensitive units, which detect compounds that are only present in very small amounts in sweat, the German news agency reported.
Wei Gao, assistant professor of medical engineering at Caltech, said the sweat analysis time in the new sensor could be only a few minutes.
"Typically, a blood test takes at least one to two hours and requires stress-inducing blood draw. For stress monitoring, time is very important," he explained.
"We aim to develop a wearable system that can collect multimodal data, including both vital sign and molecular biomarker information," he says.
