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Sunday, 31 May 2015

Apps and the Internet can empower people to be healthier


The science is overwhelming: regular exercise and a healthy, calorie-conscious diet are the keys to better health. But despite what we know about healthy living, Canadians face an obesity epidemic. Nearly one quarter of all adult Canadians are obese and one in 10 children could be similarly labelled. A little over four per cent of the Canadian health-care budget goes to treating the fallout of obesity, which includes conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and osteoarthritis.

In addition to lessening the risk of obesity, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle are manyfold and include improved mental well-being, longer and more productive lives, and a reduced risk of cancer.  So although the science is clear, the challenge is to translate this knowledge into reality. Many Canadians have trouble committing to serious lifestyle change.

There are many reasons why people fail to meet their lifestyle goals, including low motivation, time- management challenges, busy competing schedules, and lack of coaching or mentorship. Could the Internet and mobile/smartphone technology help address this conundrum? The health-care world has been transformed in the last several years — smartphone apps, social media, and the Internet may be able to empower both patients and care providers to make healthy changes. Albertans in Calgary and Edmonton can already consult a mobile app and website that provides real-time information on wait times in local emergency departments. Where can some of these technologies have their greatest impact on our health and that of all Canadians?

The Internet, texting and mobile apps have an ever-increasing presence in global health care. Nearly 80 per cent of the population of developed countries have access to the Internet. Nearly a third of all the people on the planet have access to mobile broadband, a five-fold increase over 2008.  In the U.S., 72 per cent of adults use the Internet to look for health information and 32 per cent turn to their smartphones.

Known collectively as eHealth, the explosion in health related resources and technologies provide a wide range of opportunities ranging from health coaching, sugar and blood pressure monitoring, and helping patients with a range of chronic diseases look after their condition.

One of the best studied uses of eHealth is in the area of weight loss.  In the May issue of Obesity Reviews, researchers from New South Wales in Australia look through the world literature to determine if eHealth can tackle the weighty problem of obesity.  They analyzed 84 studies, all randomized trials creating an experimental context where some patients get eHealth and some get regular weight-loss measures.  Some of the studies aimed primarily to achieve weight-loss targets, others sought to maintain weight loss, and the final bunch were specifically focused on preventing weight gain.

Most of the eHealth interventions involved some kind of Internet-based technology to help obese individuals set and achieve weight-loss targets; 40 per cent used more than one approach and integrated other technologies like texting or smartphone mobile apps. For the goal of achieving weight loss, the results were impressive. Those using eHealth technologies had a 2.7 kilogram greater weight loss over similar groups trying to lose weight without the benefit of these tools.  Most of the benefit came with combination approaches, including a weight-loss website coupled with an app or texting service. Unfortunately, the data and findings are much more limited when it comes to keeping the weight off or preventing weight gain; there is simply not enough research yet.

Fifty years ago physicians held their stethoscopes and marvelled at how they could ever have practised medicine without the ability to hear lung and heart sounds.  In 2015 and going forward, the same could well be true for eHealth.

Need some help getting into shape and shedding some extra baggage?  It’s a tough road but please consider leaning on one or more of your screens to get you to where you need to be.

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Source : calgaryherald

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