Quantified Self—the tracking and measuring of aspects of your life to find ways to make it better—is a hotly discussed topic in the technology world, especially when it comes to health and its potential impact on the well-being of our world.New exercise tracking devices, heart rate monitors, photography-based nutrition apps, and wireless weight scales are providing consumers with more information about their personal health than they know what to do with.
But what does the proliferation of health-related biometric devices and mobile apps mean for employee wellness programs? How can your company and your employees benefit from this exciting and innovative opportunity? And what does the future hold? ShapeUp has some answers for you in this deck, and on our webinar at http://bit.ly/QCO67g
Put Simply - tracking and measuring of aspects of your life to find ways to make it better
From NYTimes article, The Data Drive Life:“We tolerate the pathologies of quantification — a dry, abstract, mechanical type of knowledge — because the results are so powerful. Numbering things allows tests, comparisons, experiments. Numbers make problems less resonant emotionally but more tractable intellectually. In science, in business and in the more reasonable sectors of government, numbers have won fair and square.”From the languor of the analyst’s couch to the chatty inquisitiveness of a self-help questionnaire, the dominant forms of self-exploration assume that the road to knowledge lies through words. Trackers are exploring an alternate route. Instead of interrogating their inner worlds through talking and writing, they are using numbers. They are constructing a quantified self.But when the familiar pen-and-paper methods of self-analysis are enhanced by sensors that monitor our behavior automatically, the process of self-tracking becomes both more alluring and more meaningful. Automated sensors do more than give us facts; they also remind us that our ordinary behavior contains obscure quantitative signals that can be used to inform our behavior, once we learn to read them.
Cardiio works by having you look straight into the front camera of your iPhone to measure your heart rate. See how your heart rate changes over time through visualizations of your data
Set your water drinking goalChoose the picture of current water glass to record your drinkAdd new containers with the photo button
Use smart phone to take pictures of the meals you eatMeal Snap tells you what food was in your meal and provides a rough estimate of the calories you consumed
Use smart phone to take pictures of the meals you eatMeal Snap tells you what food was in your meal and provides a rough estimate of the calories you consumed
Log food, activities and weight to track progress towards your goals.Daily calorie target will automatically update based on how active you are and helps you reach your weight goal. Updates your data whenever you sync the Fitbit Tracker or Fitbit Aria scale.
Evaluates sleep data and tells you not how well you're sleeping along with areas of your sleep that need improvementThe app then draws from Zeo's sleep knowledge to offer targeted pieces of advice about how to improve your sleep
This disposable, peel-and-stick, biometric patch developed is used in conjunction with preliminary evaluations for weight management.
The Adidas Tennis Performance Bra includes a built-in miCoach heart sensor, an exercise tracker built right into the front of the bra that tracks calories burned as well as your heart rate.
NanoSonic’sEKGear™ Sensor Shirt automatically measures heart rate and EKG, and wirelessly transmits the information to a remote display and storage unit.
Training shirt with removable electronic monitor that tracks:Heart rateBreathing rateSkin surface temperatureTriaxial accelerationData stored on internal hard drive that can be synced to a handheld or laptop device
As I was doing the research for this webinar, I started to think..... Maybe this is getting a bit out of hand.
And then I saw this --- built in trackers right into your underwear, and I knew it had gone too far.
But where is it going in the future?
Better measurement of the impact of your program. Most employers aren’t measuring it or can’t. This will help you quantify the outcomes. We’ve seen a great rise in the number of employers who want validated weight loss data for example.
Much of that demand is being driven by incentives! Employers are giving away cold, hard cash. So they need to make sure results are honest and accurate and standardized.
Employees not in front of a computer, new ways to reach more employees, let them take their health and fitness wherever but still get credit for it!
Devices have tremendous appeal. Can even be used as an incentive. People love them. I’ve never seen so much excitement in wellness than what I get when I give someone a Fitbit – it’s just incredible.