Connected Health Technology

Devices, Software and Programs that help you track health and fitness

[fittestyapper]

The BP785N Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor

Connected Health Blood Pressure Monitor

If you’re dealing with high blood pressure, it makes sense to monitor it closely, especially if you are taking medication, following a diet or exercise program. It’s good to see if the changes you are making are having a positive difference.

Of course, a doctor’s visit is the best way to get the most accurate readings but if you want to track your blood pressure between visits, there are other options. Many supermarkets and pharmacies now have machines that allow you to get readings while on the go. However, if you don’t like the idea of checking health data in public, a portable, wireless device may be a good purchase.

My doctor recommended an Omron unit, which I purchased and have been using for several months. It has some great features like the ability to store readings for up to two separate users and an averaging function that allows you to take a few readings in a row and record the average of that session.

Another nice capability that goes along with my intentions of using connected technology to track fitness and health is the free mobile app which uploads your readings to your IOS or Android smartphone via bluetooth.

You can leave the information in the dedicated app or if you like to see all of your information in one place, you can allow the data to be shared with Apple Health or Google Fit.

[fittestyapper]

eufy bluetooth  smart scale

eufy bluetooth smart scale

For years I’d been using the same old digital scale. It was kinda rickety and not very accurate. If I’d weigh myself at home before going to a doctor’s office or a gym, I’d likely get a different reading than I expected.

So I finally decided to replace it with something modern and connected. After doing some online research, I decided to go with the eufy. I bought it on Amazon so knew it would be a breeze to return if I wasn’t happy with it.

This smart scale is very cool with many great features and, best of all, seems to be highly accurate and consistent. Not only does it measure weight, but also body fat, BMI, bone mass and muscle mass.

When you stand on the smart scale, a small electrical charge is transmitted through your body, measuring your approximate body composition. Based on these measurements the eufy can automatically manage accounts for multiple users.

There is a very good mobile app that will sync your data from the smart scale so that you can track your progress over time (I use IOS but Android is also available). After a simple setup for bluetooth pairing, just launch the app and step on the scale and your measurements will be recorded. Even better, if you like all of your health data from your connected apps in one place, you can bring your eufy data into Apple’s Health or Google Fit apps.

Overall, this was an excellent purchase for under $50 (at the time of purchase) and would make a great gift for anyone wanting to get a connected smart scale that easily provides a variety of accurate health information.

[fittestyapper]

hacker’s diet website

The Hacker’s Diet and Lifetime Ladder

Several years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the Hacker’s Diet and Lifetime Ladder. John Walker, founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD, wrote the book ‘The Hacker’s Diet’ and developed a program designed to address a specific audience - those people, such as computer programmers, that spend a lot of time at their desks and may not be inclined towards traditional exercise routines.

From the site: ‘It treats dieting and weight control from an engineering and management standpoint, and provides the tools and an understanding of why they work and how to use them that permit the reader to gain control of their own weight. The book is intended primarily for busy, successful engineers, programmers, and managers who have struggled unsuccessfully in the past to lose weight and avoid re-gaining it.’

The book is definitely worth a read and there are tools available on the website or as Microsoft Excel files that will help you track and chart your progress.

The Lifetime Ladder is an exercise plan that is part of the program. The exercises are simple and as the name implies, uses a system of rungs, like a ladder, that corresponds to your level of fitness and comfort. There is an introductory ladder that might be a good place to start, depending on your fitness level with easier versions of the exercises.

The idea is that as you become more fit, you go up a rung. You increase the intensity and number of repetitions in each exercise. It is easy to follow and can be done without any special equipment. It takes about 15 minutes or less per day and you can really feel yourself improve if you stick with it over time.

One of the things I’ve experimented with is bringing the program into the world of connected heath. It would be great to have a native mobile app to track your progress and a way to push the information to Apple Heath or Google Fit via API. I’ve done some prototyping but haven't got around to a serious effort yet. Maybe someday soon.

[fittestyapper]

My First Connected Health Device - Fitbit

As someone who has worked in tech industries for many years, I’ve always been interested in how people innovate and bring new ideas to common human concerns.

I bought my first Fitbit in 2007. It was the kind that could slip into a pocket or a band worn on your arm and it would track the number of steps you took while wearing the device. My next version could clip directly on your clothes and , in addition to steps, also tracked flights of steps that you climbed.

There had been pedometers for many years but Fitbit quickly brought a few new ideas to the table. There was the ability to upload your Fitbit data from your device to their website using your computer and a dongle or a Bluetooth enabled mobile device. They introduced cool ways to set goals, track progress over time and earn achievement badges. You could also choose to share your activity with friends.

Over the years I upgraded my Fitbit several times. One time I left it in my pocket of a pair of shorts that went in the washing machine. Another time, I dropped one and stepped on it. Eventually, I got a wristband that not only tracked my steps and flights of stairs climbed but also heart rate and sleep patterns.

The fitbit web portal has really been innovative and helpful, adding features over the years like the ability to track custom activities and track food intake versus goals.

Today, many of these functions are tracked by smartphones and smartwatches. Apple and Google have added built-in health apps to IOS and Android respectively. The best part is that the open architecture and APIs allow devices to share data with the health apps. As I’ll explore in future posts, this gives you a central place to track data from all your connected devices.