Dennis Thomas O’Connor, now 75 years old, talks about the health problems he’s had. They include heart disease, prostate cancer and being seriously overweight. But he was lucky to meet the right doctor and learn about the tools he could use to take control of his health.

“It gave me a sense of empowerment and gave me a sense of knowing what to do and think about my health. And getting this feedback on a constant basis,” O’Connor said. “I’m no longer in denial. I no longer ignore symptoms. Just the opposite.”

O’Connor’s tool kit includes a Fitbit, an Oura Ring that monitors sleep and body temperature, an Apple Watch and a Kardia monitor, which can give his heart an EKG at home. He monitors his health every day and looks at the graphed data, from his monitors, that ultimately show up on the computer screen of his doctor.

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Kurisu said the amount of data being generated by patients and their health apps is becoming a part of medicine that requires a lot of attention. While musing on the subject he said that maybe data analysis should become a new medical specialty.

When you are monitoring your health hour by hour, the effects on your body can be known very quickly.