We are standing at a very exciting crossroads where the latest developments in science and medicine are converging with consumer attitudes about technology to prompt change. Healthcare is evolving from an elite profession that diagnoses and treats symptoms, into a network of practitioners, fitness professionals and consumers, focused on taking a more proactive role in the management and prevention of obesity and/or illness.
In order to achieve that goal, there is a need for more affordable, effective and user-friendly tools that can accurately monitor daily health and behavior. Lifestyle monitoring provides an illustration of how active we are, how and what we eat, and how we sleep, along with important health indicators like weight, blood pressure and blood glucose.
The ability for consumers and finess professionals to measure and manage these kinds of basic parameters is the key to more effective behavior therapy, which is the foundation of healthcare.
The problem is that the rise in western-style fast food, combined with sedentary lifestyle habits, is causing health epidemics in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In order to make changes, people need to know how many calories they really burned yesterday? Was it more than the calories they consumed? Are they on track to get the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) recommended 150 minutes of physical activity this week? How much sleep did they get last night? Was it the recommended eight hours? What has their blood pressure been like these past few days?
We all know what we are supposed to do: Be healthy, get 30 minutes of daily physical activity; eat enough fiber; watch the saturated fat intake, and get proper rest. Knowing what to do isn’t the problem. The problem is that without the tools to accurately, easily and affordably measure these behaviors, change is difficult.
The solution is a new breed of affordable and accurate lifestyle monitoring tools targeted at fitness professionals and consumers alike. It is the essential part of the consumer-care pathway, and an effective means by which to prevent the onset and escalation of obesity and disease and the expensive, risky treatments associated with those health problems.
Donna Wolf, Ph.D is the Manager of Clinical Trials of BodyMedia Inc. She can be contacted at 412.543.1311, or by email at dwolf@bodymedia.com, or visit www.bodymedia.com.
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