What Can They Do for You
More than a million health and wellness apps are available from the Apple and Google app stores, with more being added daily. With so many health-related apps to choose from, how can you decide which ones you might want to use and how they might improve your health?
First, consider what type of app you are looking for. Overall, you can break health-related apps down into four broad categories: general health and wellness apps, apps that help manage your overall health or a particular chronic condition, telehealth and telemedicine apps, and the newest category, digital therapeutics apps, which are approved by the FDA be used for the treatment of specific conditions.
“Our day-to-day behaviors drive most of our risk for disease and the costs associated with that,” says Daniel Kraft, MD, founder and chair of Exponential Medicine, a program that explores developing technologies and their potential in medicine and health care. “And we now have an explosion of new tools to help measure and improve our healthy behaviors. The first Fitbit only launched in 2009, and wearables are now ubiquitous and can measure almost every aspect of our activity, physiology, and even mental health.”
Health and Wellness Apps
The vast array of general health and wellness apps available include nutritional apps like LoseIt and MyFitnessPal that help you track your eating and exercise habits and lose weight, fitness apps like Strava, Fitplan, and Aaptiv, sleep trackers like Sleep Cycle, and mental wellness apps like Calm, Headspace, and Happify.
“As wearables evolve to be pretty commonly used by most people, many wellness apps like these can communicate with your wearables,” says health care futurist Rafael Grossman, MD, a surgeon at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire who performed the first Google Glass surgery. “And data from those third-party apps can be seamlessly consolidated into your Apple Health Kit or Google Fit, to give you a complete report on your health and activity, all in one place.”
Health Management Apps
These apps typically offer general health management tools like medication trackers and reminders, as well as disease-specific functions like blood glucose tracking for people with diabetes or reporting bleeding events for people with hemophilia. Many of these apps can also be set up to share information directly with your doctor.
Continued
If you’re looking for an app to help you manage a specific chronic condition, start by asking the doctor who treats you for that condition. Another good source of recommendations would be with national organizations that advocate for people with your condition. For example, My MS Manager is a free mobile phone application created by the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) that allows users to track their MS symptoms, create reports for medical professionals, and get medication reminders.
If you get care at a major hospital or medical center, they may have one or more apps of their own that help you manage your visits, prescriptions, and electronic health record. Many health insurance companies also offer apps to patients who are enrolled in one of their plans that allow them to manage their health benefits with a few taps and swipes, and even incentivize healthy behavior by offering rewards like gift cards.
Many of these apps can also integrate with wearable technologies like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, or with other home digital health devices like blood pressure cuffs, smart thermometers, and smart scales. “Apps are now blending with home diagnostic platforms,” Kraft says. “In part due to the need for more remote health care visits during to COVID, people have become more comfortable with using things like connected blood pressure cuffs and pulse oximeters. The big value is helping you intelligently manage disease processes, especially chronic ones.”
Telehealth and Telemedicine Apps
Apps like Doctor on Demand, Teladoc, GoodRx Care, Talkspace, and Zocdoc can connect you directly with a doctor for a virtual appointment or help you seek out and book local health care providers for in-person visits. More and more hospitals and health systems, like the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, are also including the ability to participate in virtual visits in their own apps.
“The pandemic dramatically accelerated the use of virtual visits, and I don’t think we’re ever going to go back to pre-pandemic levels of in-person health care visits, as patients and physicians are discovering the compelling convenience and efficacy,” Kraft says. “Even before virtual Zoom or FaceTime with clinicians, we’ve had ever-smarter chatbots that can help discern symptoms and triage problems via apps like these effectively at lower cost.”
Digital Therapeutics Apps
In 2017, the FDA approved the first of a flood of new digital therapeutics for disease treatment, a program called reSET from Pear Therapeutics, which uses mobile assessments and interventions to treat substance use disorders. It’s been followed by more than 200 others to date, including BlueStar, a personalized coaching app that has been found to lower blood glucose levels for adults living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, and Kaia Health, a physical therapy app that was shown in clinical trials to significantly reduce pain, anxiety, stress, and depression in people with musculoskeletal pain.
Continued
“We’re now in a time where the hardware and software have evolved into an ecosystem, with apps, smartphones, wearables, and AI algorithms,” Grossmann says. “This is giving us better answers and more personalized recommendations for behavior changes that make sense from a medical point of view and can produce real improvements in health.”
Kraft predicts that soon, your doctor may prescribe an app rather than, or in addition to, a new medication or another type of treatment. “It’s a golden age for these digital solutions,” he says. “There are so many options available to help you optimize your physical and mental wellness, find diseases before they become significant, or manage complex diseases ranging from pneumonia to cancer.”
Thank you. Fantastic information!
buy admissions essay buy essay now
Really quite a lot of useful data.
site that writes essays for you essay writer websites geographical essay book writer name
Cheers! Quite a lot of data.
essay weiter essay help writer write my dissertation for me uk
Terrific write ups. Appreciate it.
best real money online casino for us players golden nugget online casino michigan caesars casino – free online slots machines games
Seriously loads of amazing facts!
affordable essay writing service buy essay service essay paper writing service
Seriously loads of terrific information.
pendrago writing service reviews best reviewed essay writing service college admission essay writing service
Cheers. Wonderful information.
[url=https://writingpaperforme.com/]writing papers[/url] write my term paper [url=https://custompaperwritersservices.com/]essay writter[/url] write my research paper
You actually explained it adequately.
best cheap essay writing service [url=https://essayservicehelp.com/]essay writing help[/url] essay writing service buy
Nicely put. Cheers.
[url=https://theessayswriters.com/]write a essay for me[/url] write an essay for me [url=https://bestcheapessaywriters.com/]write my essays online[/url] write my essay cheap
Terrific forum posts, With thanks.
essay writing service college sales letter writing service law enforcement resume writing service
Cheers, I like this!
[url=https://payforanessaysonline.com/]pay for essay[/url] pay for paper [url=https://buycheapessaysonline.com/]pay for an essay[/url] pay for college papers
You said it very well.!
[url=https://topswritingservices.com/]best paper writing service[/url] essay paper writing services [url=https://essaywriting4you.com/]writing an informative essay[/url] essay writing service uk cheap
Awesome write ups, Thanks a lot!
solicitor will writing service essay writing companies admission essay services
Helpful facts. Cheers.
english writing editing service best man speech writing service uk professional resume writing service phoenix az
Nicely put, Kudos!
essay writing help free essay writing service oxford self writing essay
Appreciate it, Ample postings!
essay writing service 3 hours resume linkedin writing service essay writing service houston
You said it very well.!
linkedin profile writing service australia undergraduate essay writing service college essay writing service reviews
Amazing information. Many thanks.
fiverr essay writing essay writing service fast writing service reddit
Truly all kinds of useful information.
myself essay writing transition words in essay writing essay exam writing for the california bar exam
Great postings. Regards!
personal statement writing service who has the best essay writing service technical paper writing service
Excellent advice. Appreciate it!
customer service essay writing cheap essay writing services top uk essay writing services
Nicely put, Cheers!
executive resume writing service minneapolis on writing the college application essay presentation writing service
Nicely put, Many thanks.
online essay writing service sales letter writing service best essays writing service
You said it nicely..
4th grade essay writing worksheets omaha resume writing service best paper writing service forum
Thanks, Lots of postings.
online essay writing service review essay 24 writing services writing a hook for an essay
You said it adequately.!
buy essay custom essay for sale
Закройте глаза на проблемы с напряжением — подключите стабилизатор!
стабилизаторы напряжения http://stabrov.ru.
Factor nicely applied.!
how to be an essay writer transitions for essays essay writing service toronto
With thanks! Lots of knowledge.
argumentative essay writing best paper writing service uk best essay writing service 2017
Nicely put. Thanks a lot!
essay paper writing services writing an essay outline essay writing service houston
Incredible all kinds of great facts!
write my university essay uk best essay writing service professional will writing service
Thanks a lot! I enjoy this!
upstate resume & writing service essays writers best nursing paper writing service
Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
Fantastic material. Cheers!
writing a business plan for cleaning service essay writing service list high school essay writing
Helpful advice. Thanks.
dissertation writing service in us mba essay writing service writing a research based argumentative essay about technology
Valuable knowledge. Thanks a lot!
writing an essay introduction essays writers cio resume writing service
I am really thankful to the owner of this site who has shared this enormous post at at this place.
You actually said that fantastically.
play game 777 red dog casino 100 no deposit bonus codes 2023 red dog casino app
Valuable posts. Thanks.
red dog casino online https://red-dogcasino.online/ roulet online
With thanks! Useful information!
neosurf casino european roulette free roulette on line
Many thanks! Lots of knowledge!
slots-ahoy red dog casino promo codes safe online casino
Wow lots of wonderful material.
aztecs treasure https://reddog-casino.site/ red dog casino game
Nicely put. Thanks a lot.
online blackjack fake money red dog casino no deposit bonus code perfect pairs
Thanks, I enjoy this!
reddogcasino is red dog casino legit play baccarat online for real money
Incredible loads of superb advice.
play blackjack real money https://red-dogcasino.website/ tycoon slots
Terrific stuff. Thanks!
red dog casino review rouletteonline archilies the game
Many thanks. Numerous material!
btc casino red dog casino bonus codes casino for free
You’ve made the point.
no deposit bonus codes for existing customers red dog casino no deposit codes high stakes games
Very good facts. With thanks!
bc game referral https://bcgamecasino.fun/ harvard bc basketball game
Whoa a good deal of fantastic data.
bc game logo bc game apk download bc army game 2023
With thanks. An abundance of posts!
bcgame bc game promo code bc game shitlink
You suggested that exceptionally well.
bc fish and game https://bc-game-casino.online/ bc game promo code no deposit
blackweb official website darknet drug store onion market
Fantastic content. Regards.
bc game jb currency bc lions game today bc game login
Nicely put. Thank you.
bc game отзывы https://bcgamecasino.pw/ bc game reclame aqui