One of the best things about our time is how much easier it’s become to manage personal health. Not only do we know more on the topic but we also have more tools for it than ever. More importantly, many of these tools are commonly accessible. This means you can use them even without having a degree in medicine, nutrition, or some other related field.
There are several ways to make use of these tools in order to work towards a healthier self. Below is a guide to them, so that you can get started if you have not done so already.
Monitor Your Nutrition
This is among the best-known ways to use popular tech to maintain personal health. Some examples of this include the following:
- Using a calorie-counting app to keep track of your intake.
- Using a food scanner to check the makeup / nutritional content of your meal.
- Consulting a fitness website to plan your meals ahead of time – with a view to eating healthy, of course.
This is merely the tip of the iceberg. There is even a fork (the HAPIfork) that actually helps you slow the rate at which you shovel in your food (because speed-eaters tend to consume more). At this rate, people using augmented reality devices to trick themselves into eating less really might not be that far off in the future.
Take note that some apps or gadgets may have more than one function, by the way. This can be a help if you need more than one utility, e.g. you need both a calorie counter and meal planner. Using only one app for those things can make things more orderly for you.
Meet Your Fitness Goals
Being well is not just about eating well, though. That’s where tech of this type comes in: think of wearables, exercise apps, portable heart rate monitors, and the like. Thanks to things like these, getting fit and staying fit are easier than ever.
You can start with a smart scale, for example. Using it, you can take a look at your weight, BMI, and even body fat percentage to set baselines for your fitness plan. Try to identify goals, such as an ideal weight or body fat percentage to reach so you have something to work toward.
After that, you can download an exercise app that provides workout regimes for you to follow. The same app might allow you to keep a log or even set reminders to ensure you stick to your exercise schedule.
You can supplement these steps with other things, like fitness wearables and tracking apps that monitor key body statistics like your pulse. Some can even tell you when it’s time to take a break based on your heart rate or to start the next burst for HIIT according to a set interval rate.
Be Part of a Health Community
Even though much of personal health is about your own effort, it never hurts to get help. That’s where being part of a health or fitness community can have major benefits. Fortunately, today’s communication technology makes it easy: you can simply look for relevant groups, sites, or even forums online and join them.
By doing that, you can get advice from others on much the same fitness plans as you. You can exchange stories with them and gain encouragement as well as give it. You can trade suggestions on the best health products or regimes.
Where you can take it to the next level is to integrate your fitness gadgets or apps into your communal activities. You might use a step counter paired with a wearable device to count the number of steps or even miles you cover in a week, for instance. Then you can upload that data online to compare with others’ data.
Putting your data out there can help you feel a sense of accomplishment. That makes you likelier to continue it. This can even help you exercise more as you gain a sense of competition with others doing the same thing.
Stay in Touch with the Experts
Of course, anyone seriously dedicated to staying healthy will have to consult with a professional healthcare provider every now and then to ensure that everything really is in tip top shape. An occasional check-up can mean the difference between overdoing a fitness schedule and doing it right, whether it is a diet or a workout program.
Modern tech can help you here too. For one thing, there are now consumer-facing electronic health record programs that can store all of your medical data in one place and also let you find and schedule physician appointments more easily. They can even give you reminders about appointments so you don’t forget.
With all of these helpful tools, you should find managing your personal health simpler than ever.