We’ve looked at the possible future of both health & fitness many times over the years – Workout Clothing, Virtual Training Partners, various medical discoveries and of course the Gymchats. Particularly 176 and 224.
Continuing those thoughts, here are a few items that may make an appearance over the next year or so. Health & Fitness Predictions for 2019.
NB : I always receive some wonderful feedback on these ‘peer into the future‘ posts – greatly appreciated. If you’d like to drop me a line, just point me to a tweet or leave a comment on the relevant Straight to the Bar post. Cheers.
Several ageing-related clinical trials begin. Of particular note : the testing of therapies to prevent (and partially restore, if needed) atherosclerosis, those for dealing with osteoarthritis and those for preventing macular degeneration.
Brain-controlled prosthetic legs commercially available. Not cheap, but available.
Dedicated sports watches are rarely seen, having been almost completely replaced by smartwatches.
Pairing of human anatomy with various devices, to assist short-term use. Devices will enhance human abilities. e.g. : human eye paired with digital camera for short-term use, automatically unpaired when camera put down. Eyes also paired with various computers and displays, and limbs with tools and equipment.
Fully functional computer model of the human brain. This enables increasingly ambitious testing of various theories.
Incredibly thin lenses appear commercially, using sheets of various nanomaterials. Think everything from contacts & eyeglasses to telescopes & cameras.
First trials of various ‘naturally controllable prosthetic limbs‘ – notably DARPA’s HAPTIX prosthesis system – begin.
Use of Nerve Guidance Conduits (for nerve repair) in human trials.
Human clinical trials of immune-enhancing protein (lymphocyte expansion molecule, or LEM).
As with last year, an ever-growing number of medical conditions move from ‘no treatment available‘ to ‘treatable‘ and even ‘curable‘ in some cases.
Discussion continues around the idea of ‘genetic modifications of human babies‘, particularly in light of recent events. This idea continues to move from sci-fi movies to mainstream news & current affairs programmes.
General Trends
There will be a short period (approximately 2019 – 2023) – when lung cancer becomes treatable – where cigarettes become popular again.
Despite this, overall air pollution falls at an ever-accelerating rate; as transport gradually shifts to electric propulsion. Several diseases begin to decline as a result.
Noise pollution also falls at an ever-accelerating rate, as transport (& various tools) gradually move to electric power.
Incidentally – if you’re wondering how we did last time around, here’s the list.
Over to you. What are your thoughts on the various predictions above – both the content and the timeframes? Anything you’d change, or add?
And what are your own predictions for next year, both for the fitness and medical worlds? Drop a comment below.
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