Do mobile he alth applications really work?
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App stores Google Play for Android andApp Store for iOS are full of he alth apps: from guides to learning how to meditate, advice about mindfulness and well-being, aids to sleep better or to control the water we drink daily, to exercise control applications that we also find pre-installed in many mid-range or high-end terminals (such as S He alth from Samsung or He alth of Huawei).
The question being asked by more and more scientists and application developers is whether all those icons and all those functions inside the smartphone really work. Isn't it counterproductive and paradoxical to get more hooked on the phone to seek disconnection? Are all these services really effective or are we allowing ourselves to be convinced by smoke sellers who promise well-being through the mobile screen?
The digital world: ally and enemy of mood
Although some studies have shown that inappropriate and excessive use of social networks can have negative effects on mental he alth ""especially in adolescents at risk of suffering from depression"", more and more scientists opt for incorporate the technologies of the digital world into their therapy, prevention and treatment strategies (think, for example, of the use of virtual reality as a strategy to heal war traumas ).
While users increasingly demand relaxation and meditation options on phones, software development experts have struck gold: a simple search can bring up more than 500 such apps.
The scientific community has already begun to investigate the real effects of these types of tools and there is already evidence that some of these applications, used correctly, can be very beneficial for he alth.
Thus, for example, the application Sleepio, which aims to fight insomnia, has been put to the test in the real world , in a study that also included placebo groups. Different he alth variables were analyzed and it was found that the participants who used Sleepio significantly improved their quality of sleep, which translated into improvements in other areas, such as a 68% recovery rate from anxiety problems.
The Sleepio app was developed by Peter Hames of the UK National He alth System and Colin Espie, Professor of Medicine of sleep at the University of Oxford. It has prescribed more than 750,000 workers from important companies such as LinkedIn and has obtained significant financial amounts for its financing.
On the other hand, activity monitors and other wearables that aim to measure numerous variables related to he alth can become good allies to help raise awareness of the state of physical, mental and emotional he alth in each moment. Be careful though: the first models to introduce some novel measurements may take some time to further develop the technology and offer much more accurate feedback.The brand FitBit, for example, will introduce changes to its heart rate measurement system in next modelsto avoid accuracy issues that have been criticized for in the past.
