Journal of Holistic Health

Transcription

1 March 2016 Volume 1, Issue 1 Journal of Holistic Health Mind, Body, Soul The future is in your hands but for it to be peaceful and happy requires a sense of compassion and concern for others well-being. ~ Dalai Lama~ Tech. Apps Promote Health Behavior Engagement The term ehealth represents an emerging health-related phenomenon and refers to all of the uses of health technology in health care, medicine and public health. A segment of ehealth involves the use of smartphones and tablets in conjunction with health, wellness and fitness-related applications (apps) as a means of monitoring and adjusting health behaviors. It is estimated that at least 80% of Americans have a mobile phone and at least 40% of Americans have a smart phone; this number is projected to reach 80% by 2025 (Dicianno et al., 2015). In 2010, there were 5,820 health and wellness smartphone apps. In 2013, that number rose to 17,000 mobile medical apps. Research suggests that approximately 52% of smartphone owners and 31% of cellular phone owners have used their device to look up and/or use health or medical information and services. In fact, 19% of people with a smartphone have downloaded an app for the sole purpose of tracking and managing their health (Dicianno et al., 2015). The most commonly used health-focused apps are considered lifestyle-related, collecting data on the user s healthy behaviors such as recording dietary intake, sleep patterns, exercise participation, or as a means of monitoring weight-loss (Dicianno et al., 2015). The primary objective of these apps is to directly or indirectly help the user engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors. The apps record data overtime improving the user s awareness of health-behavior-related information such as the nutrient content of the diet or the caloric expenditure during physical activity. The main function of the recorded data is to make the user more aware of their health behaviors, which perhaps in turn creates a sense of accountability and drives the user towards making appropriate changes. Apps may accomplish this through a gamification approach by increasing selective attention and/or emotional involvement by using a variety of playful interactions. Apps can engage individuals by providing a steady stream of information such as fitness and nutritional tips or new exercises and fitness tasks. Some apps employ the use of sensors utilized in the collection of physiological lifestyle data such as heart rate response, daily movement in steps, and sleep quantity and quality (Lucivero, & Prainsack, 2015). With the creation of dozens of new health apps for smartphones and tablets each month, finding the right app to support a user s health behavior goals may become increasing difficult. The following apps were utilized and then reviewed by Saint Peter s students as part of the Health and Physical Education Technology class. References Dicianno, B. E., Parmanto, B., Fairman, A. D., Crytzer, T. M., Yu, D. X., Pramana, G., &... Petrazzi, A. A. (2015). Perspectives on the Evolution of Mobile (mhealth) Technologies and Application to Rehabilitation. Physical Therapy, 95(3), Lucivero, F., & Prainsack, B. (2015). The lifestylisation of healthcare? Consumer genomics and mobile health as technologies for healthy lifestyle. Applied & Translational Genomics, doi: /j.atg Inside this issue: Tech Apps MyPlate... 2 BodySpace... 2 FitStar Personal Trainer... 3 Strava GPS & Cycling... 4 JEFIT... 4 Daily Water App... 5 Sleep Cycle App... 5 Special points of interest Obesity rates Mental health sta s cs Minimum requirement for moderate intensity physical ac vity Using technology to improve your health

2 Deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, iodine, vitamin A, folate and zinc can have devastating consequences. At least half of children worldwide ages 6 months to 5 years suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiency, and globally more than 2 billion people are affected Reference: Investing in the future: A united call to action on vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Global Report 2009 p. 1http:// Low hemoglobin concentration (anemia) affects 43% of children 5 years of age and 38% of pregnant women globally Reference: Stevens, G. A., Finucane, M. M., De-Regil, L. M., Paciorek, C. J., Flaxman, S. R., Branca, F., &... Ezzati, M. (2013). Articles: Global, regional, and national trends in haemoglobin concentration and prevalence of total and severe anaemia in children and pregnant and nonpregnant women for : a systematic analysis of population-representative data. The Lancet Global App: MyPlate MyPlate ( is a calorie tracker app that in reality MyPlate is a calorie tracker app that in reality does a lot more than track calories. MyPlate aims to teach its users about their personal nutrition by recording the daily intake of many nutritionrelated items such as sugar, fat, protein, calcium and cholesterol. MyPlate creates easy-to-read daily charts, that illustrate the food intake separated in to fats, protein, and carbs. This app will also count your calories and tell you how you are doing in regard to your daily caloric intake goal. This goal may be altered depending on the weight-associated goals such as weight loss or weight maintenance. This app is easy to use. After every meal simply pull out your mobile phone, tap on MyPlate app icon and log in your food. MyPlate has a large database already set up, users simply search the database and click the I Ate this Button for every item consumed. At the end of the day it is fun to go back in the app and look at the charts provided. Although this is a great app, there is room for improvement, for example; the Hispanic/Latino food sources on the MyPlate s database are very limited. If you are a Latino like myself, you will have to log in foods similar to those you have eaten. I would recommend MyPlate for personal use and instructional use because I had a very good experience with it. The more people are aware of their nutritional intake, the better chance of achieving an improved state of wellness. Thousands of people suffer from diseases that can be prevented from simply eating better and that is what MyPlate essentially promotes. Li Adorno Honors Program Student, ladorno15@mail.saintpeters.edu MyPlate can be found at: h p:// About 1 in 5 (21%) adults meet the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines. Less than 3 in 10 high school students get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Physical activity can improve health. People who are physically active tend to live longer and have lower risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and some cancers. Physical activity can also help with weight control, and may improve academic achievement in students. Inactive adults have a higher risk for early death, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and some cancers. Reference: CDC: Division of Nutrition, Obesity and Physical Activity; Body Space is a fitness application that offers a number of health-related items including workouts for various muscle groups, exercise templates, tutorial videos, and a community board forum to engage in discussions pertaining to health and wellness. Body Space also provides its users with an online nutritional store to purchase a variety of supplements ranging from vitamins, proteins, and preworkout drinks. The application is very user friendly as it guides the individual via drop down menu through tracking workouts, researching various exercises or tutorial videos, and engaging in discussion with other Body Space members. The application itself caters to anyone ranging from fitness professionals, educators, trainers, or sedentary individuals looking to engage in physical activity. Body Space is very educational as it provides users with over 1 million exercise templates and workouts with which to engage. It is very easy to navigate and tracking daily workouts allows the individual to set short term goals and see weekly progression. One negative aspect of the application is that it s very tedious to simultaneously log data and exercise. It accumulates to roughly an extra minutes while tracking the workouts as it goes into great detail with the amount of repetitions, sets, and weight. The application is free. The only cost associated with Body Space is if you purchase supplements from the Body Space store. It is one of the top fitness applications for beginners and avid exercisers in my opinion. Body Space provides its users with a plethora of information free of charge which is incredible. I would rate this application a 5 on a scale from 1 to 5, as it incorporates all the elements for helping an individual achieve success in health and wellness. Eric Schafer Education Major eschafer@mail.saintpeters.edu App: BodySpace 2

3 FastStats Mobile App FastStats provides quick access to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Topics include diseases and conditions, injuries, life stages and populations, health care and insurance, births, and deaths. Content is updated automatically when the device is connected to the internet, giving the user the most up-to-date health statistics available. Download it free today for ios or Android. Download at : Adult Obesity Statistics More than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese. Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those with a normal body mass index. Childhood Obesity Statistics App: FitStar Personal Trainer The FitStar Personal Trainer app uses a virtual personal trainer that encourages and motivates the user in an attempt to maximize your goals. The app allows you to begin at an intensity and pace that is comfortable to you, but through the encouragement of the virtual trainer, you can progress through the different levels of effort and fitness-related challenges. The exercise sessions also vary in length, which is great if you only have a few minutes; some workouts may be as short as 15 minutes. During a workout session, the personal trainer app will let you know how you are doing as well as provide you with instruction on how to properly perform the exercise. The app is most appropriate for individuals who are just beginning to engage in exercise because of the motivational and instructional component. The FitStar Personal Trainer app is also great for beginners because with the limited selection of exercises, choosing what to do does not become overwhelming. Conversely, due to the limited number of exercises, this app is not appropriate for more advanced individuals and/or for those who may engage in exercise on a regular basis. This FitStar Personal Trainer app is versatile, allowing you to use the app on either your laptop, surface, ipad, iphone, or any other type of phone. Physical Education teachers may use this in their class by connecting their device up to a projector so that their students may also engage in a personal-trainer-led exercise class. Cost: Free for the first week and then there is a cost Kaitlyn Lima Health and Physical Education Major Minor in secondary education Approximately 17% (or 12.7 million) of children and adolescents aged 2 19 years are obese The prevalence of obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years decreased significantly from 13.9% in to 8.4% in In , 8.4% of 2- to 5-year-olds were obese compared with 17.7% of 6- to 11-year-olds and 20.5% of 12- to 19-year-olds. Childhood obesity is also more common among certain racial and ethnic groups. In , the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents was higher among Hispanics (22.4%) and non-hispanic blacks (20.2%) than among non- Hispanic whites (14.1%). The prevalence of obesity was lower in non-hispanic Asian youth (8.6%) than in youth who were non- Hispanic white, non- Hispanic black or Hispanic. 3

4 App: STRAVA The Suicide rate went up 15% between 2000 and 2009, with Alaskan Natives, American Indians, and white men at highest risk. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in youth years old. Mental health disorders such as depression are among the 20 leading causes of disability worldwide. Depression affects approximately 300 million people annually and is projected to increase. More than 1 out of 20 Americans 12 years of age and older reported current depression in Only 25% of adults with mental health symptoms believe that people are caring and sympathetic to persons with mental illness. The Strava GPS Cycling and Running app is a free application that maps possible running and cycling routes in your area. While you are cycling or running, the application lets you know how many calories you have burned as well as your average running or cycling pace, how long you have been participating in the activity as well as the distance you have travelled. The app will also display your mile-run time. This allows the user to get feedback as to how well they are doing. As you ride the bike or run, the Strava GPS Cycling and Running app will display a map on the screen and show you exactly where you are and the path to follow. The Strava GPS Cycling and Running app is great because it helps you discover new running and/or cycling routes by displaying a variety of options. The app will provide different challenges, which is a great feature to keep you motivated. The app also provides critical checkpoints throughout your cycle or run. A special feature is that the Strava GPS Cycling and Running app allows you to take pictures to track where you ran or cycled. One drawback of the app is that it does not show areas which could be potentially dangerous and should be avoided Lindsey Jean-Babtiste ljeanbaptiste14@mail.saintpeters.edu Number of adults with diagnosed heart disease: 26.6 million; Percent of adults with diagnosed heart disease: 11.3% App: JEFIT Activities of Moderate Intensity To reduce the risk of disease the recommendation is 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity daily for adults and 60 minutes for children. Washing and waxing a car for minutes Washing windows or floors for minutes Gardening for minutes Pushing a stroller 1.5 miles in 30 minutes Raking leaves for 30 minutes Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes (15 min/mile) Shoveling snow for 15 minutes Stair-walking for 15 minutes Playing volleyball for minutes Playing touch football for 45 minutes Walking 1.75 miles in 35 minutes (20 min/mile) Basketball (shooting baskets) for 30 minutes 4 The JEFIT app is a free application on the app store that provides numerous health and physical activity tips. The first time you use JEFIT, it may seem overwhelming because of the many features of the application; however, after using it for a while it becomes easier. The best features of the JEFIT app are the workouts. Users of the app can select from an extensive list of exercises and workouts. Each workout comes with a description on how to perform the exercises as well as pictures to show the user the proper form for the exercise as well as how to fully engage the targeted muscle. The JEFIT app also displays the musculature that is targeted by the workout, conveniently marking the specific muscles and body parts in red this feature provides an educational component to the user. The JEFIT app also allows you to log in health information, such as height, weight, and body fat. The app also encourages you record how much weight is lifted during various strength training exercises. This is a great feature because it allows the user to track their information and lets them know how they are doing in regard to certain health and training goals, such as increasing the amount of weight they can lift during strength training. While you are working out, you can log in how many repetitions and sets were performed that day so that the next time you work out, you can make sure you do at least the same if not more! This can be motivating because you can challenge yourself and tracking the results can make you push a bit harder in your workouts. Lastly, The JEFIT app also has a social component that helps keep people motivated. Users can post to a forum and interact with other JEFIT app users and talk about different exercises for certain goals. Despite these great features, during field testing the app did freeze up and was closed out a few times. When the app freezes and closes, information not previously saved will be lost because the app does not have an auto save option Lindsey Jean-Babtiste ljeanbaptiste14@mail.saintpeters.edu

5 Daily Water app is an app available through itunes. The app may be used by either your smart phone or an apple watch. The Daily Water app helps you track the amount of water you have had to drink through the day. If you go too long without recording your water intake, the app will send you a reminder to either drink more water or to simply record the water that you have consumed. This app allows you to set daily goals for the amount of water you want to drink. The app will produce a histogram graph, displaying the amount of water you have had to drink over a period of time. The app has positive reviews with app users saying it is a simple way to improve water intake. While the download of the app is free, the app costs.99 cents to use. The app obviously has a small cost associated with its usage when compared to a free app, but the cost may be a sound investment towards the improvement of overall health Cost: $.99 Tiarnee Yates tyates@mail.saintpeters.edu Daily Water App Water, sanitation and hygiene has the potential to prevent at least 9.1% of the global disease burden and 6.3% of all deaths. The impact of clean water technologies on public health in the U.S. is estimated to have had a rate of return of 23 to 1 for investments in water filtration and chlorination during the first half of the 20th century. Water and sanitation interventions are cost effective across all world regions. These interventions have demonstrated economic benefits with every US dollar invested benefits range from $5 to $45. Percent of adults 18 years of age and over who met the Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic physical and muscle-strengthening activity: 20.8% App: Sleep Cycle The Sleep Cycle app analyzes your sleep patterns and documents when you are in the deepest state of sleep, how long you are in that specific state, and to wake you up when you are in the lightest form of sleep. Before you go to sleep, you place the phone in your pillow and the app collects information about your movements throughout the night. The app works by using the accelerometer located in your iphone to detect your sleep movement. The app will collect data on your sleep quality through movements detected through the phone s accelerometer to determine when in your sleep cycle is the best time to alert you in relation to the time for which you set your alarm for wake-up. For example, if your alarm is set for 9 am and you select the option for a 20 minute wake up phase, if the Sleep Cycle detects a significant amount of movement around 8:55 am, which suggest you are in a light sleep, the app will wake you up then. When you do wake up, the app asks that you place your finger over the camera through which it can detect your heat rate. The app also asks you how you feel when you wake up, which is then used to compare how you slept the previous night to your mood. It also documents the weather outside to see if that affects your sleep patterns. You can review your daily results and the app will compare them to previously recorded nights. The app also provides information about how much you moved around and tossed-and-turned while you slept. The Sleep Cycle app stores this information and can graphically show you changes in these behaviors. There are a few drawbacks to the Sleep Cycle app, for example the app needs to be turned on when you are about to go to sleep requiring you to place the phone face down on your bed. This can present a problem because you don t always know when you are going to fall asleep Tiarnee Yates tyates@mail.saintpeters.edu Persons with sleep apnea are at increased risk for a number of cardiovascular diseases; notably, hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeats (cardiac arrhythmias) are more common among those with disordered sleep than their peers without sleep abnormalities. Sleep apnea and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) appear to share some common physiological characteristics, further suggesting that sleep apnea may be an important predictor of cardiovascular disease. Reference: Kasasbeh, E., Chi, D. S., & Krishnaswamy, G. (2006). Inflammatory Aspects of Sleep Apnea and Their Cardiovascular Consequences. Southern Medical Journal, 99(1),

6 Editor Timothy F. Marshall Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Dept. Health & Physical Education Assistant Editor Stephanie Bryan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Director, Dept. Health & Physical Education With the Experts! Future issues will contain a question and answer section. We invite the Saint Peter s community to submit questions/letters to the editors related to health, fitness, wellness, nutrition, and alternative therapies such as yoga. The questions will appear in this section and will be followed by a response by the experts!. All questions/inquiries may be submitted to either: tmarshall@saintpeters.edu sbryan@saintpeters.edu Editors Timothy Marshall, Ph,D., Editor Phone: E mail: tmarshall@siantpeters.edu Stephanie Bryan, Ph.D., Assistant Editor Phone: E Mail: sbryan@saintpeters.edu Saint Peter s University Dinneen Hall Department of Health & Physical Education YOUR LOGO HERE