With the adoption of millions of users on health applications in conjunction with the revolution of smart phones in the last decade, an important question is asked about the effectiveness of access to the desired health outcomes.
As part of their ongoing pursuit of fitness and idealism, many people are downloading health-related applications on their smartphones. This represents a radical change in the attitudes of sports practitioners and individuals who pay close attention to healthy habits.
Some rely on health applications to control the time they devote to exercise, as well as motivate them to become more fit and productive.
Many examples can be highlighted of people who have benefited greatly from their use of these applications. Ed, a London-based writer, has lost 70 kilos of weight by applying "Hazelnut" to calculate the number of calories, while Gareth has managed to get rid of alcohol addiction based on Drink Freedays.
According to research conducted by Flori, the use of health care applications grew by 330% between 2014 and 2017. About three-quarters of these users used these applications at least twice a week during the past week, while the rest of them used them more than ten times a week.
In the midst of every success story, there are some failures, as those who carry these applications do not use them continuously and are not adopted after a period of time, according to a report by Alex Herne in the Guardian.
| There are applications that have the opposite effect of what they promote and are usually annoying to users (Piccapi) |
The opposite effect
On the other hand, there are applications that have the opposite effect of what they promote and are usually annoying to users. This can be seen in the Agnes experience, which has been using a custom smartphone application to remind it to drink water.
Agnes said the application reduced the amount she used to drink per day. One of the users of calorie control applications said that its dependence on this application caused the development of its food disturbance.
Some practices that applications seek to generalize by forcing users to adhere strictly to them and commit to specific tasks may have the potential to self-destruct. In general, these applications help you to acquire new habits by creating new neural connections within your brain.
The problem with major health care applications is that many of the habits that users are trying to get are not habits they believe they are adopting in their lives. In this sense, it can be said that getting used to a particular morning exercise falls within the list of good habits, while we can not say the same thing about the habit of getting into the application.
This does not negate the ability of a number of applications to make some radical changes, regardless of the applications that require a monthly subscription from their users without providing high-cost services and the expectations of their users.
Some applications seek to achieve profit by serving a particular purpose rather than its complexity. This can be seen in Live Sam's Healthy Eating application, which urges users to pay for special plans that include specialized diets to help them improve their diet.
Mattias Storm, head of economic growth measurement at the company, claims that the application provides simplicity to those who need it, as well as additional support for people who want it. "It takes 20 days for a man to do something familiar, and he needs 60 days to put him on his list of habits," Storm said.
| Some rely on health applications to control the time they devote to exercise (Pixabee) |
Women 's Health
For her part, the Danish author Ida Tin, and the developer of the application "Chlo" famous for determining the times of the monthly habit of women, that most similar applications rely on a calendar of up to 28 days, which is not useful.
For the Chloe application, it processes the data the user enters to provide an accurate prediction of the date of the beginning of the menstrual cycle in women. For its part, the developer of Danish applications said that through this application she seeks to help women understand their bodies better.
In another example, the WISE application allows users of breast cancer to share their sleep, quality and tiredness with their doctors. According to a report in the Medical Internet Research Journal, this application has a range of benefits for users and their medical team.
Health applications echoed official organizations such as the National Health Service of the United Kingdom, which noted that the application of MyBossilSilve helps relieve anxiety and stress. Helium also provides the ability to track the diet of people with type 2 diabetes.
It can be said that the best option one can follow is to be motivated by its goals and not rely on an application to motivate it to maintain its health. Moreover, it must be careful to achieve real change rather than simply to pursue its activity negatively.