Pants that measure blood pressure.

Leading electrical development company Philips has begun its campaign to become a recognised authority in the health care market and has announced that it has made a patent application of undergarments that can measure blood pressure. The so called 'smarty pants' contain electronic sensors stitched into the waist band elastic and are designed to measure the speed of the pulse - by measuring this velocity and the time taken for the same pulse to go from one sensor to another the pants will calculate the wearers systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

High blood pressure has no visible symptoms and pants like these will allow the wearers to discretely check their blood pressure and seek medical help should they continue to record high readings.

These smart pants are part of a 4 year programme that Philips hopes will incorporate monitoring systems into clothes, bedding, home appliances and vehicles - Land Rover have been using similar terrain sensor technologies in their best selling SUV's to improve its safety and intend to extend this into other models.

The next time your GP asks you to drop your pants - it could be to check your blood pressure.