Smart cushion tracks inactivity

Darma is a cushion that uses fiber-optic technology to help workers track their health while they're at the desk.

The average white collar worker spends almost their entire day in their office chair, and it isn’t doing anything for their health. Not only does sitting for too long mean less calories burned throughout the day, but it can also cause back problems if the posture is bad. In the past we’ve seen office furniture redesigns in the form of the activity-inducing Buoy chair, but now Darma aims to help workers track their health while they’re at the desk.

According to the company, sitting has become the health dilemma of our generation. In order to ensure they’re getting enough activity, the Darma cushion is embedded with thin fiber-optic sensors that can detect the body’s micro-movements. When connected to the Darma app, users can track their heart rate, breathing rate, stress level and posture and set up smart alerts that help them to keep each metric at a healthy level. The cushion uses sitting time and stress levels to calculate the best times to notify users to take a break, while posture alerts also trigger whenever the user slumps into an unhealthy sitting position. If stress levels reach a certain threshold, the app recommends a meditation session and guides the user through it with on-screen instructions to get their breathing to the optimum rate.

Darma gives office workers personalized alerts based on their own activity, ensuring they don’t negatively affect their health by spending too long sitting. The company aims to launch a Kickstarter campaign in the near future. How else can sedentary workers inject activity into their day without being distracted from their work?