Technology: A Helping Hand for Health?

It may not come as a surprise that The latest Health Survey for England revealed that only 55% of women and 67% of Men aged 16+ had achieved the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity across a week. Data from the 2017 NHS National Statistics also showed that only 26% of UK adults manage to achieve the target of eating 5 fruit and vegetables a day. The question is, can SMART technology encourage, motivate and empower UK families to adopt healthier habits? This weeks blog will focus on the free health applications aimed at helping individuals move more and eat well.

SMART Technology?

SMART technology can be defined as using mobile and electronic technology for better diagnosis of disease, improved treatment of individuals and improve quality of life. This technology can include equipment such as wearable heart rate monitor devices and health apps which can be easily downloaded to our phones.

Free apps to move more 

Adults are encouraged to be active for 150 minutes across the week. This can be broken down into 10 minute bouts across a day, so it’s more achievable in our busy lives. There a now a huge number of health apps that aim to inspire us to get active. One of these apps is Active 10.

 

Walking briskly for 10 minutes counts as exercise

The Active 10 (opens in new tab) app firstly allows you to choose and set a goal i.e. two brisk walks for ten minutes on Monday. Secondly, it helps you to ensure you are walking at a moderate intensity by tracking you movement and speed. Finally, it allows you to monitor how much you’ve done across the week to see if your getting closer to the 150 minutes.

Free apps to eat well

The majority of the UK population spend little or no time reading food labels. Taking the time to look at the nutritional valve of the food we eat can help us to make smart, healthier food choices. However, given our busy lifestyles and short lunch breaks, this is often hard to do. That’s why Change4Life have launched their new Food Scanner app (opens in new tab). The app is simple. It allows you to scan the barcode of different foods and drinks and tells you if they are low, medium and high in salt, fat and sugar.

Change for Life Food Scanner Poster

Leave a Comment