Tracking Health

Each month I work with U.S. Cellular to share phone features with you.  Today is one of those days.

If you’re a regular reader of the blog you know a few things about me…one I wear a Fitbit and two I was recently diagnosed as diabetic.  I am happy to say that since the diagnosis and since the move to the new house I’ve made improvements on both my activity level and on my blood sugar levels.  That makes me happy!

Since we’ve moved I’ve been doing a little bit better of a job tracking my steps.  No..I don’t get 10,000 in every day but it’s typically in the 7,000 to 10,000 range.  For the first week we lived here it was closer to the 15,000 range.  I don’t miss those long days at all.  When we were at the farm house many day I would only have 3,000 steps and would have to work extra hard to get more steps in.  Right now it’s been so cold here that I’ve not been able to get outside.  I do work to add steps each day even if it’s simple things like taking two trips instead of one that I would normally take.

I have been a little better at watching what I’m eating too…more fruits and veggies..less carbs.  I haven’t sworn off carbs…just backed them off a bit.  I still have an occasional treat…I still over eat occasionally.  I’m FAR from perfect but over the last 5 months I’ve lost 18 pounds…that has helped my blood sugar lots.  That makes me happy too.

It’s great because a lot of this tracking and intake I’ve been paying attention to can be done right from my phone.  I was reading and found that 34% of smart phone users have some sort of app that they use to help monitor their health.  Both Kelli and I use apps for that.  I’m a Fitbit fan and she is a Health Service fan.  I think I would be a Health Service fan too but I started with Fitbit and once I get used to an app, I’m likely to stick with it.

There are so many ways a smart phone can aid in staying healthy from storing your medical information, to having early access to 911, to something new and exciting like tele-medicine.

It always amazes me how things have changed and advanced from when I was a kid.  I great up in small town New Richland, MN.  Doc Olds was there and he did it all, first in an old house he used as an office and later in his “updated” clinic on main street.  He was a sweet old guy…I bet he never imagined that people could “go to the doctor” via a phone!  Heck I have trouble imagining it myself but tele-medicine is on the rise.

For now, I’m content with simply monitoring my personal with a simple app..but times are changing and new things are coming our way.  It will be interesting to see where smart phones take us in the next 20 years.