How to use a smartphone to improve health

We use smartphones for almost everything, why not use mobile technology to improve our own health? A smartphone can help lead a healthier lifestyle, remotely monitor important indicators (for example, monitor the level of glucose in the blood), save money on medical services.

In 2018, the law on telemedicine came into force, which means that Russian doctors using telephones and mobile applications will be able to hold consultations, consultations, and remotely monitor the patient's health. Telemedicine, wearable smart devices and applications will help reduce costs and improve the quality of medical services. How exactly this will happen - we will tell further.

Applications help to run or contribute to the early detection of symptoms of various diseases. Almost any modern smartphone helps to measure blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and physical activity of the user.

The method of photoplethysmography allows you to measure blood pressure using any good camera. Based on the method, applications are created with a very simple principle of operation: you are photographing a fingertip with a flash. Diagnostics is based on measuring the brightness of light reflected from the skin, and as a result - changes in the skin structure and blood flow.

Can programs completely replace medical equipment - for example, a tonometer? No, but “health sensors” and related apps motivate users to lead a more active lifestyle. Of course, the smartphone is inferior in accuracy to specialized devices. You can not rely only on the readings of the sensors. However, thanks to new applications and wearable smart watches / bracelets, everyone can now control diet, exercise, improve the quality of life without complex or expensive equipment.

It’s impossible to tell about all the good apps - in the health / fitness / sport category you can find tens of thousands of programs. But we chose the most popular (by the number of downloads and user ratings) in several categories, covering various aspects of health and longevity.

Symptom check

Babylon application checks the symptoms of various diseases. A team of 100 specialists in the field of AI is trying to create the world's largest database of medical knowledge that can diagnose diseases and even treat you through the phone.

Babylon systematizes the process of diagnosis and the subsequent treatment of the patient. The user will be able to upload information about his symptoms to the application. The system, based on its medical history, will offer the appropriate treatment. The company claims that Babylon diagnostics now have 92 percent accuracy.

4.1 ☆ | Price: free / there is paid content

Food control

One of the easiest ways to improve your health with a smartphone is to track your daily food intake. Proper nutrition should not be heavy. A healthy diet can help reduce the risk of heart disease or stroke.

Writing down what you eat, you can identify unhealthy habits and fight obesity. FatSecret application allows you to track the number of calories, fat, carbohydrates, sugar, protein and other substances.

The application provides the ability to obtain data about products through a database search. It is possible to enter nutrition information manually.

4.4 ☆ | Price: Free

Heart Rate Monitoring

Runtastic Heart Rate Monitor allows you to check the work of the heart - just by showing the fingertip of the camera. The application measures the pulse at rest, the pulse before and after exercise, shows the maximum heart rate. With the help of this tonometer you can easily judge the physical and emotional state.

4.3 ☆ | Price: free / paid content

Empowering the evaluation of the heart

Welltory will help you plan your day, increase your resistance to stress and recover properly after a workout. The application does not just monitor the heartbeat through the camera, but also performs an analysis to quantify the level of stress and general health. Not just a pulse is measured, but heart rate variability (HRV).

HRV is calculated by analyzing the duration of the intervals between subsequent heartbeats. It is the HRV that reflects the balance of the nervous system and the level of accumulated stress.

Welltory shows what factors (sleep, exercise, nutrition, work, and even the weather) affect your well-being.

4.2 ☆ | Price: Free / $ 9.49



iCare Health Monitor checks not only the pulse, but also sight and hearing. The application does not require any peripheral devices (except for the phone), but at the same time it has broad functionality:

• pressure measurement;
• measuring the level of oxygen in the blood;
• measurement of respiratory rate;
• checking the cardiovascular system using photoplethysmogram , etc.

4.6 ☆ | Price: Free / $ 3.49-19.99

Control of sports activity

The ASUS ZenFit app , which also works with ZenWatch watches, allows you to track various types of activities, such as walking or running, counts the number of calories burned, counts the pulse, and also gives tips on how to make life more healthy.

4.2 ☆ | Price: Free

Everything for running

Runtastic tracks loads during anaerobic workouts. It is very useful if you are engaged in various types of jogging and / or cycling, hiking, skiing, ordinary walks. You can control the distance, time, speed, altitude, calories burned and more.

4.5 ☆ | Price: Free / $ 0.99-49.99

Healthy sleep

SleepCycle is an intelligent alarm clock that analyzes your sleep and wakes you up in the fastest phase of sleep. SleepCycle allows you to easily wake up without much effort. The app tracks movement during sleep using the phone's accelerometer, then determines the most appropriate time to wake you up within a 30-minute interval, ending at the specified alarm time.

4.4 ☆ | Price: Free / $ 1.99-29.99

Hearing test

Tonal audiometry is the main method of examination of hearing, which allows you to determine the degree of hearing loss at different frequencies of the audio signal. An application with the ingenuous name " Hearing test " assesses the sensitivity of hearing in the frequency range 12.5-18 kHz. This is a fast, safe and highly accurate way to check your hearing at home.

4.4 ☆ | Price: Free

Brain training

Like the body, the mind also requires proper care. Applications for developing cognitive abilities enhance neural connections in the brain and can help to be more productive.

Elevate is a brain training program designed to improve focus skills, increase task processing speed, improve memory and mathematical skills. Each person is provided with an individual training program, which is adjusted over time.

4.5 ☆ | Price: Free / $ 4.99-44.99

Anti-Procrastination

Procrastination is not a diagnosis of “psychological illness,” but it can be viewed as a factor that affects health. Like smoking, procrastination is a negative factor. 95% of people like to put things off until later, but about 20% systematically delay the implementation of various tasks. In fact, there are a lot of chronic procrastinators around us.



RescueTime automatically keeps track of your work time and tasks you are paying attention to. The application helps individuals and teams improve performance and eliminate bad habits.

4.0 ☆ | Price: Free / $ 9.00-72.

Conclusion

Smartphone performance is growing, but, in fact, their characteristics are no surprise to anyone. However, medicine is a new opportunity for growth and development. There are more opportunities to interpret all medical data than you ever imagined. In the future, the smartphone will be smart enough to analyze the work of internal organs and instantly connect you with competent specialists (perhaps it will not be people anymore, but advanced medical AI).

There are sensors for smartphones, designed to assess radiation exposure, pesticides in food and air quality. A huge amount of data on the patient's health can be obtained from just one drop of blood, analyzed using a single external sensor. The Internet of Things will change our experience of interacting with smartphones in the near future and bring it to a new level, providing amazing opportunities for the body and brain.