[Reblog] My Health Data Is Killing Me | The Health Care Blog

My Health Data Is Killing Me | The Health Care Blog.

Excerpt from the 20 January post

We are still in the dark ages when it comes to health and fitness data. It reminds me of the early 1990s when I had a paper day planner for a calendar, a business card holder for contacts, and a map.

Then along came the Microsoft Outlook and LotusNotes platform. These two platforms slugged it out like Uber verses Lyft. Then Microsoft integrated MS Office with MS Outlook and it was “game over.” I finally had one place to find everything I needed to do 90% of my job.

I’m waiting for that moment to come to the realm of my fitness data. It’s extremely difficult for me to access my medical and fitness data as it is, and yet the recent CES conference presented hundreds of new ways to collect more of my data. There will be wearables, scales, patches, contact lenses, smartphones, watches, etc. Maybe even a drone to fly overhead and watch what I eat for lunch. It is overwhelming. How overwhelming, you ask?

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[Reblog] WEARABLE HEALTH TECH ALONE NOT ENOUGH TO GET TANGIBLE RESULTS

From the 12 January 2015 item at Public Health View

Wearable devices targeted at healthy living are alone not enough to drive tangible changes in an individual’s health, experts say, although sales of these devices are expected to soar in the coming years.

Companies like Apple and Google sell watches and cellphones that can track health-related statistics, and others like Fitbit and Garmin make wristbands and even necklaces geared towards recording health-related statistics. This, in turn, is expected to translate into improved health behavior and hence better health outcomes.

But it is not that simple, say experts.

“The gap between recording information and changing behavior is substantial, and while these devices are increasing in popularity, little evidence suggests that they are bridging the gap,” experts wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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