Interactive health technology is becoming a great new way to track your own health and also have access to your doctor. Chronic diseases are increasing and by being able to stay in contact with your doctor and have your health information given to your doctor through smartphone apps and wearables. The study Using Smartphones and Health Apps to Change and Manage Health Behaviors: A Population-Based Survey by Ernsting, et al., explains how people with smartphones are more likely to do health research and care more about their overall wellness than those who did not use health apps. People that used health apps were more conscious of their health habits. Another article that stood out to me was 4 Innovative Ways to Use Social Media for Wellness Engagement which discussed how social media, messaging, gaming, and hashtags are used in promoting health. Some brands like Nike and Lululemon have used social media to promote products and engage customers. Others use messaging to put out news stories that may interest their customers. Gaming combined with social media is another great aspect of interactive health technology because people can get active with their games and track their fitness activities and progress. The last aspect was hashtags which are very important in promoting health and passing along challenges like the Ice Bucket Challenge to promote ALS research and raise money.

This week my project was to take over the Oswego HPW Health and Technology Flipboard account. This has been a very rewarding task as it has forced me to read and search for more articles about new technology related to health. Being a college student usually does not leave much time for me to go out of my way to research a lot of information about new, innovative health technology. However, by doing this social media take over it has allowed me to go out of my way to search for new health technology. I focused a lot of attention on wearables because they are very popular today and I wanted to learn more about them. One article I found about Apple Watches intrigued me because it was related to heart health and monitoring. The video I added below shows the technology behind the newest Apple Watch and also explains how this wearable can do an ECG and report the information to a doctor. Another article I found was about more advanced health technologies. This was interesting to me because it was not the technology that is talked about on a day-to-day basis which made it even more interesting to see how advanced our society actually is. These technical advances can be very beneficial and life-changing. Please check out my Knovio about this week that I spent taking over the Interactive Health Technology Flipboard account!

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our first round of projects, we were responsible for making a Lipdub video that highlights SUNY Oswego’s campus. The Lipdub that we created really shows aspects of Oswego that many people may not know about. The main focus of our video is the ALANA dancers. These talented young ladies put on outstanding performances regularly on campus including dances and modeling. Some other aspects include the athletic facilities where games were shown in the Lipdub along with the gym that is for athletes only. Some other aspects that were also shown were local parks, activities for students like roller skating and silent parties, the longest conga line in the world, the Teal Walk, and other perks throughout the campus. The song “I like it” by Cardi B was used because this video is really all about what we like about Oswego. This project really helped us to learn how to use iMovie, cut videos, cut audio, and place videos in certain spots during the song for a well-flowing music video.

Wearable technology and health apps have the possibility to and have been changing the field of health. In some cases, doctors are able to track their patients through apps. In other cases, people are able to track their own health by using wearables like Fitbits and Apple Watches. The Youtube video How is technology changing the healthcare sector? explains the positives of health apps and how patients and doctors have more possibilities to talk about symptoms and diagnoses. This video also stresses how patients no longer have to go to appointments which can be very beneficial to patients that have trouble walking such as elderly patients. Patients can also choose to use wearable devices to track their health or patients can consult with doctors through the internet rather than in person. These health apps can also provide mental health assistance and asses a patient with bad health practices.

It is possible that health apps can be very beneficial to many. However, it is also possible that in the mix of all the health apps that exist, there are some that may not be beneficial and possibly even harmful. The article To App or Not to App: Psychiatrists Issue Landmark Guidelines by Dora Calott Wang, MD, explains how some apps clearly are not giving advice that a Healthcare Professional would give. For example, an app to help people control blood alcohol level encouraged more drinking rather than less drinking. The solution to this problem of getting poor health advice can be solved by doing some background research on the health app before using it. This article breaks this into fives steps.

As seen in the picture above, the five things to look for in a health app are general information, risk, privacy, and security, evidence, ease of use, and interoperability. For general information, background information about the app should be gathered in order to ensure that this app is truly medically related and accurate. Risk, privacy and security ensures that your information is safe and confidential which is surprisingly not a common quality in health apps. Evidence of the background of the app can show whether or not the app may offer benefits. Ease of use is an important factor for monitoring health because if the app does not work on your phone or if it is hard to maneuver than it may not be a good choice of health app. Interoperability is an important part of the app that can allow the user or patient to easily share the medical information on the app with clinicians. These basic standards are important when trying to monitor health because they ensure that the user or patient is getting the proper care and feedback they need.

Other than health apps, wearable technology is also becoming more advanced in keeping track of vitals and fitness. The article Checking your vitals: Wearable technology is changing the way we monitor health is about wearables and their benefits. Wearable technology promotes exercise and healthy habits which is preventative medicine. In the long run, people are helping themselves and their bodies. Also, in the present, people are learning more about their bodies and are taking more actions to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle with the help and encouragement from these wearables. This article also mentions that in addition to a healthy lifestyle, people should also learn more about health in general. This is why the wearables are useful because they help keep track of a person and also give notifications to promote more actions of a certain kind if someone is lacking. The information on these wearables and also be monitored by professionals and anything irregular can also be caught. Overall, health apps and wearables are beneficial to people who are looking to become healthier and stay healthier for longer.

Thanks for joining me!

HDR photographs have more depth to them and make them more dramatic, clear, brighter, and welcoming.