To minimize and manage the power drain, and extend battery lifetime of wireless body sensor networks (WBSN) is one of the major challenges. There are three key purposes of this survey article, first, to examine the downsides of the classical power-management methods in WBSNs; second, considering the life-critical applications and emergency contexts that are encompassed by WBSN; and, third, studying the impact of power-management techniques on resource-confined networks for economical healthcare. A specific power-management solution is also discussed. © 2019 IEEE.