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'A click away': Make healthy lifestyle choices with cool tech

Over the shoulder view of a young woman holding smart phone and wearing smart watch, using fitness app to check her training progress.

Celebrated on April 7 every year, World Health Day marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO). As the world still grapples with Covid-19, healthcare has become the biggest lifestyle concern of this decade.

And thanks to Technology, a wide variety of wellness apps, mobile health monitors and wearable devices are empowering individuals to monitor and analyse key health indicators. Then there is telemedicine (consulting doctors online) which has boomed during these Covid-19 times and has been a life saver for many chronically ill patients.

Last month e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it will be offering its Amazon Care telemedicine programme to employers in the US. Currently available to the company's employees in Washington state, Amazon Care is an app that connects users virtually with doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses who can provide services and treatment over the phone 24 hours a day.

Gone are the days when people used mobile apps only for Social Media, e-commerce and communication. Now there are apps for almost everything health related. Monitoring your heart rate and calories, designing workouts, checking sleep patterns and mental health is just a click away. There are even apps to track your daily water intake!

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Telemedicine (consulting doctors online) has boomed during these Covid-19 times and has been a life saver for many chronically ill patients
Telemedicine (consulting doctors online) has boomed during these Covid-19 times and has been a life saver for many chronically ill patients

Health is just a click away

India’s healthtech market is estimated to reach US$ 21 Bn in 2025 on the back of telemedicine and preventive healthcare growth, according to an Inc42 Plus report called India’s Healthtech Landscape In A Post-Covid-19 World . It revealed that preventive healthcare in the country is expected to reach market size of US$ 170 Bn by 2025, primarily driven by fitness and wellness apps and diagnostics solutions.

Almost every day, a new technological advancement is making it easy and convenient for us to manage and control our health, improve our overall lifestyle and help us live a healthier and more fulfilling life.

While calorie tracking is not a new concept and fitness trackers have been used by sports persons for years, smart phones and watches now allow users to track their workouts much easier. Wearable devices are becoming a part of our everyday lives and are no longer limited to being merely fitness trackers. Fitbits, Apple watches, Garmins provide personalised workout plans for your body type and document your progress in order to help you achieve your fitness goals.

Fitbits, Apple watches, Garmins provide personalised workout plans for your body type and document your progress in order to help you achieve your fitness goals
Fitbits, Apple watches, Garmins provide personalised workout plans for your body type and document your progress in order to help you achieve your fitness goals

Some health apps even assist you with tracking your daily food intake and offer health nutrition suggestions while some send daily reminders to stretch, take a stroll around the office or just take some deep breaths. Wearable heart monitors and devices make it easier than ever before for people to remain heart-healthy.

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Sleep-related apps allow you to track your sleep patterns, so you can see what time you fell asleep, how many hours you slept and what time you woke up. Keeping track of these sleep statistics, can help you adjust your bedtime routine as per your health requirements. Nighttime filters on your electronics can also help you relax and are recommended for those who feel restless or anxious before bedtime.

Artificial intelligence (AI) the core technology behind smartphone applications, is also being used across the different spectrums of healthcare and is transforming the way we diagnose and treat illness. Be it intelligent chatbots for specific interactions or robotic nurses in Japan, AI is being used to make the quality of human life better.

By passively monitoring elderly people in our homes, IoT connected devices can alert carers and family members when something is wrong
By passively monitoring elderly people in our homes, IoT connected devices can alert carers and family members when something is wrong

Have you heard of the Internet of Caring Things (IoCT)? It is a network of connected devices, sensors and cognitive systems that allow family members, doctors and caregivers to proactively monitor the health and well-being of the world’s aging population. It helps to monitor, inform and notify not only caregivers but also provides healthcare providers with actual data to identify issues before they become critical & allows early intervention. By passively monitoring elderly people in our homes, IoT connected devices can alert carers and family members when something is wrong. IoCT smart sensors such as patient wearables and medical devices are connected to resources via technology that helps to detect issues in real time.

Monitoring your heart rate and calories, designing workouts, checking sleep patterns and mental health is just a click away. There are even apps to track your daily water intake!
Monitoring your heart rate and calories, designing workouts, checking sleep patterns and mental health is just a click away. There are even apps to track your daily water intake!

Here's a list of 10 popular health and wellness apps and wearables:

  1. Fittr is a community-based health & fitness Indian app with everything you need to start your transformation journey. Fat loss, weight loss, muscle gain or body transformation

  2. Known as India's best health and fitness app, Healthify Me provides weight loss diet plans and personal trainers. The app powers you with hand wash tracker, sleep tracker, workout tracker, weight loss tracker & calorie tracker.

  3. The ClotMD app connects patients needing anticoagulation medication with their healthcare providers and allows them to communicate in real-time via the medical app. It allows patients and health care providers to easily manage therapeutic use of warfarin, a Vitamin K Antagonist on a computer or mobile device.

  4. Amway’s Nutrilite Protein Calculator helps you know the approximate Protein gap in your daily diet.

  5. FitNotes Gym Workout Log helps you track your workout sessions.

  6. WEConnect provides support for those recovering from alcohol or substance abuse by giving you the opportunity to earn rewards through building daily routines, creating healthy habits, and staying accountable to them. WEconnect addresses the most crucial time during someone’s recovery from drug or alcohol addiction - the first year - while also supporting patients in long-term recovery.

  7. Fisher Wallace stimulator is a wearable headband used to treat depression, anxiety and insomnia. The device works by comfortably stimulating serotonin production, alpha wave production and the brain's default mode network while lowering cortisol (the stress hormone).

  8. While Wysa is a stress, sleep & mindfulness therapy chatbot, MindHouse is an app-based mental wellness service that offers a variety of guided meditation and yoga classes, based on scientifically-backed modern techniques like mindfulness & visualisation.

  9. Spire is a wearable Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) technology that can detect breathing patterns and other physiological signs through health tags attached to your clothing.

  10. Waterminder is an award winning daily water reminder & tracker that allows you to view your hydration balance progress, calculate water goal, get motivated via reminders, achieve your daily hydration goals.

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