HeartPartner

About

Most people now work in an office environment doing relatively sedentary jobs (sitting in front of a computer). Offices are typically kept at around 70F (22C). Correspondingly, many, if not most, employees are cold all the time. This is because it is very difficult to maintain core body temperature in such a cool environment without wearing heavy, non-fashionable, clothing (temperature standards were based on men, specifically, men wearing a three piece wool suit). Workers either spend the entire day chilled (which leads to numerous health complications over time) or bring a space heater to work. Space heaters consume staggering amounts of power, but as well, trigger the A/C system to run for longer time periods, resulting in additional energy costs. As space heaters are a fire and burn risk, many organizations ban their use, but then again, the workers end up being chilled. The solution to this challenge is to ensure the workers maintain a high metabolic rate while sitting doing little physical activity. The drop in metabolic activity which occurs during sitting is due to the fact that gravity causes the fluids in teh body to pool into the legs while sitting. This fluid is not returned to the heart, leading to reduced cardiac output, and correspondingly, reduced metabolic activity rate. The HeartPartner technology, developed by Sonostics, overcomes this fluid pooling problem by activating the soleus muscles (often referred to as our second hearts) in the calves of the legs. This results in increased fluid return to the heart, increased cardiac output, and therefore increased metabolic rate, leading to increased warming. Moreover, the employee has complete control over the level of warmth they generate, and the power requirements of the HeartPartner is milliwatts (i.e. fractions of a penny a year in energy expenditures).