Could our clothes help us cope with stress?
The answer is no. I’m not talking about retail therapy where stressed individuals (guys and girls alike) max out their credit cards after a bout of stress, which often results in the wardrobe being filled with colourful t-shirts and cheap beach dresses. Apparantly, the BBC had an article which reported that ’smart clothes'(everything in the future has smart preceeding it) can help monitor and control stress of the wearer with a number of functions.
These intelligent outfits have a number of gadgets in them which effectively help deal with stresses. These clothes have sensors which detect the temperature of the body, the emotional state and the heart rate. On receiving this data, the database will act appropriately to it, if the data sent to it shows that the wearer is under stress, music will play through the inbuilt speakers or images and videos through the display to calm the wearer down, reducing the stress and anxiety.
The clever invention was produced by Barbara Layne from Concordia University in Canada and Janis Jefferies from Goldsmiths College’s Digital Studios.
It would be great to have the stresses in your life removed with the help of your clothes. What if you’re in the office or at University and you have loads of assignments and feel stressed? The clothes will calm you down, play some calming music or a funny video to calm you down so you can cope with work a bit more. The ’smart clothes'have a place in our future, playing a part in reducing stress levels in the world.