Mood bra measures emotions, prevents overeating

Microsoft's new hi-tech mood bra. Photo / Microsoft

Microsoft researchers have designed a smart bra which monitors a woman's mood in an attempt to prevent emotional overeating.

The bra contains several removable sensors which monitor heart rate, breathing, skin activity and movement.

In theory, the bra could determine when a wearer is stressed and likely to look to food for relief, Microsoft researchers wrote in a research paper.

It would feed the data to a smartphone app via bluetooth and provide interventions such as deep breathing exercises to help the wearer overcome their urge.

The researchers said the bra predicted emotions "significantly better than chance" after testing it on four women for four days.

They compared the physiological data to the women's self-reported emotions.

"Based on these results, we conclude that building a wearable, physiological system is feasible," they wrote.

But they said a real-world smart bra would need to be made more comfortable and have better battery life.

Analysts view wearables as one of the next big frontiers in technology. Already there are are a variety of wristbands which monitor health and wellbeing.

Sam Yip, a senior researcher at technology consultancy Telsyte, says smart textiles will likely hit the mainstream in around 10 years.

- AAP