Bits & Bytes

By Joel B. Bernbaum, Esq.

The Montgomery Bar Association is not alone is urging us to focus on wellness in our work and personal lives. Technology plays an important role in helping us be aware of our current health by monitoring, maintaining, and improving it.

Our everyday wristwatch has evolved to provide us with an abundance of health information, including records from providers, live feedback, and encouragement. No matter who makes the watch; Apple, Samsung, Fit-Bit, Garmin or Google; there are over 50 makes and models. Here are some of the best features to look for when buying yours.

You can import, automatically with proper setup, your health records for most health providers. For instance, Mainline Health Care updates the health data on your phone and allows you to sync it to your watch and computer. You can see a list of your prescribed medications, your EKG, blood tests, appointments and other records including your doctor’s comments following examinations, etc. Your watch can even keep track of washing your hands properly by sending you reminders!

After proper setup, some watches can detect if you’ve been in an accident or had a fall and it will make the emergency call automatically. After the call ends, your watch sends a message to your emergency contacts with your location letting them know that your watch detected a hard fall and dialed emergency services.

Most watches will tell you your current heart rates with the tap of your finger. Some even provide EKGs and blood oxygen level as well. If you have a Peloton, you can connect your watch via Bluetooth and see your heart rate on the monitor as you ride to keep it at a safe level. No wires or other devices needed.

Wellness tips are pushed to you via notifications for wellness, relaxation techniques, unsteady gait, detecting falls, irregular heartbeat, number of hours slept, number of steps per day. There are Samsung, Google, and Apple Health apps. Running apps will track your pace, calories, and duration. There are even apps that will map your run. These stats will be sent to your phone and stored for future reference.

There are diet apps such as Foodcate, My Diet Coach Weight Loss and others. There are specific models like the Apple Nike edition, Samsung Health and Google Fit. Apple has Calm for meditation, Lifesum for nutrition, Stava for fitness, Headspace for Midfulness/Meditation, and Pocket Yoga for – well – yoga!

As you can see there are plenty of useful wellness apps, programs, and features available with more on the way.

Let’s be healthy and exercise!