Android | Smart Phone Health Care

Care4Today Reminds Patients to Take Medications, Fill Prescriptions, and To Take Control of Health Care Situation

An app designed to help patients remember important medical events was recently released for the iPhone. Care4Today, created by Janssen Research & Development, lets its users set up alerts to fill medications, doctor’s appointments, and reminders to take medication. In addition, it allows for easy storage of contact information and passwords.

This app is secure, so users can rest at peace, knowing that their information won’t be accessed by unauthorized people.

One feature I liked was the medication log. It keeps track of when you last took a medication. While it does take a little bit of effort to input that information, it would be helpful for those willing to do that. I know that I’ve forgotten many times when, and even if, I took some a medication or vitamin, and I ended up skipping it because I didn’t want to overdose. For the forgetful type, this is the perfect feature.

Dr. Diego Miralles, head of Janssen Healthcare Innovation, talked about why Care4Today was created:

The Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform can help overcome the number one barrier to consumers taking their medications by providing customized reminders delivered via secure messagiing directly to their cell phone, a device that most people carry with them at all times.

This doesn’t seem to be a new idea — setting up reminders for important events. Whenever I set up an appointment for the doctor, I immediately enter it into my calendar that is on the home page of my phone. I’m not sure if it would prove to be more efficient just to keep doing that, or to actual enter that information into this app. Maybe I’m not understanding the app correctly, but I think I’ll stick with my calendar for keeping track of appointments.

Overall, I think this app would be most helpful for reminders on refilling medications and to take medications. It would be cool if a feature could be added, that, after you receive an alert for a refill, you could select for a message to be sent to your pharmacy of choice with a request to have the medication prepared for you to pick up at a certain time. Not sure how feasible that would be, but it sure would be easier than calling, or just showing up at the pharmacy and hoping there wasn’t a wait (who am I kidding — there is always a wait!)

This app is free though and available for and the iPhone.

5 Must Have Mobile Apps for Runners

There are a lot of apps out there for runners. The question is, which ones are worth downloading? I’ve gone through quite a few different map trackers and I think I have a pretty good idea of my favorite ones. However, there are also a lot of other great apps that extend beyond map trackers. So here is a round-up of apps every runner should download:

1. Instant Heart Rate: Keeping your heart rate within an appropriate range for your age, height, and weight is essential in obtaining an optimal workout. Heart rate monitors can be pricey, however, so not many people have one. Luckily, there is a heart rate monitor that is available for your phone! , which has an almost 5-star rating from almost 81,000 reviews. The description in the Google Play Store says that its “accuracy is constantly tested by fitness coaches, nurses, doctors, EMTs, and 5 million users.” It’s very simple to use — the user just puts their finger onto their phone’s camera and the heart rate will display in a few seconds. It’s actually a pretty neat app, and I like using this a whole lot more than trying to find my own pulse. If you are looking to optimize your runs (or other workouts!), this is a great app to have on your phone.

Download for Android phones for free

Download for the iPhone here for .99

2. MapMyRun: This app is one of my favorites, and is part of the MapMyFitness suite. It simply tracks where you run using real-time GPS. I’ve found it to be very accurate, and I love being able to see exactly where I ran and how far I ran for. It can be connected to your MapMyRun.com account, which is an awesome website in itself. I like being able to search other runners routes that are near you, because it helps me find some variety. If you like bragging about your workouts, you can post directly to Facebook how fast and how far you ran. However, if your MPH is rather embarrassing like mine, you can just leave that information out! There are a lot of GPS running trackers out there, but I’ve found this one to be the easiest to use, and the cleanest interface. It also tracks calories burned, information on nutrition, and more. Another very popular one is , which boasts of having no advertising.

Download for Android phones

Download for the iPhone here

3. Adidas miCoach: One of the hardest parts of running, at least in my opinion, is getting the motivation to do it. Quite often the thought goes through my head “Go outside in the hot, sweat a ton, and feel sore the rest of the day or stay home in my air conditioned house and catch up on my reality TV shows”, and I want to pick the latter. However, that’s not a good way to stay in shape. So, for anyone out there who needs an extra boost, the Adidas miCoach is a great app. It uses real-time voice coaching to encourage and educate you on parts of your workout, lets you select a workout plan that is ideal for your personal goals and body type, and many other interesting features. It even has a “shoe usage” feature that sends you alerts on how worn out your shoes are getting. So if you want your own personal trainer talking you through your runs, this is a great app to have.

Download for Android

Download for iPhone here

4. Daily Ab Workout: A person can’t be in truly great shape just by running. You have to eat right, get enough sleep, and incorporate other workouts as well. Having a strong core is essential for running, so the Daily Ab Workout app is great to use in accordance with any running regimen. It has three ab work outs that last between 5 and 10 minutes each, and the reviews rave about it. Unlike a lot of apps similar to this on smart phones, there are full-length videos included, not just pictures or written instructions. It’s add free and has different workout modes you can select from. I haven’t used this app extensively yet, but I plan to in the future. Either way, I think it’s another app anyone who is committed to getting in better shape and becoming a better runner should have.

Download for Android for .99

Download for iPhone here for .99

5. Epic Runner: After all the training and hard work that comes with running, it’s nice to see those efforts pay off. What better way than running in a 5K, half-marathon, or even marathon. While finding a race can be done online, this app makes it easy to find races and get a running plan that is customized for that date. It shows you a map of the races you have found in your area, and also has a fitness couch incorporated. One of the neatest features, in my opinion, is Running Calculator. It basically takes your running stats from previous runs and predict race results according to that, even down to racing categories such as age and sex. This app does cost money, but seems pretty handy.

Download for Android

Run Tracker:

Keep you well-rounded:

El Camino Hospital Provides a Mobile App for the Family Medical Officer

If you have kids, keeping track of all of their medical history can be an incredible burden. As someone that never once went to an emergency room before I was married, but have since been at least a couple of times a year, learning to keep track of it all has taken some time.

El Camino Hospital, the hospital of Silicon Valley, is now providing Family Medical Officers with an app to make managing family healthcare a little bit easier. Here are some features of the app:

– My Family & Me: FMOs can keep track of their families medical history (e.g., diagnosis and other information). Feature is password-protected.

– Library Resource: Offers access to a comprehensive health library, a drug reference and a health encyclopedia.

– Emergency Response: Provides current wait times for El Camino Hospital’s emergency rooms in Mountain View and Los Gatos, CA. Users can dial 911 with the touch of a button, as well as view a checklist of things to bring if they require a visit to the ER.

– Find a Doctor: Users can search for an El Camino Hospital physician by name, specialty or location.

– Visiting El Camino Hospital: Provides access to turn-by-turn directions to El Camino Hospital facilities, campus maps, visiting hours and other useful information.

It appears to be a relatively useful app, and I can imagine that apps like this will only get better as time and technology improves. The app is currently available for free on Android and Apple devices.

SleepRate: Improves Your Sleep by Monitoring Your Heart

Recently, I haven’t been sleeping well. We all go through times like this where for whatever reason you just don’t sleep well. You may have trouble falling asleep, the sleep may not be very restful, you may not be getting enough, or you may even be getting too much. Generally, I have no idea why I am sleeping poorly which is really frustrating because there is not a whole lot I can do about it, other than take some sleeping pills.

With all of the apps and gadgets flooding the market, there are tons of things you can buy now that will monitor your sleep and claim to help you sleep better in some way. One of these devices takes an interesting approach at improving your sleep: it monitors your heart.

SleepRate is a cloud based mobile service that allows customers to monitor their sleep using many widely available heart-rate monitors. Using the ECG that these monitors can detect, SleepRate can analyze your sleeping patterns, and help suggest solutions to improve your sleep.

I love that the system is “device agnostic” as they like to refer to it. You are not tied to their one offering that may not fit your exact needs. They simply provide a service using devices that many people already have, and their compatibility list for both iOS and Android devices is growing everyday. They just recently announced compatibility with Zephyr, RunKeeper, Wearlink, and Wahoo ANT+.

Sleep is one of the most essential parts of our lifestyle, and it is really no surprise that your heart could provide vital information to how well you are sleeping. Now with the SleepRate system you can have access to that information to improve the way you sleep, and help improve your overall health.

5 Must-Have Medical Apps for Medical Students

I think it’s safe to say that the next generation of doctors won’t be shying away from using mHealth. However, before having the opportunity to use all the health technology out there in their own practices, there are a few hurdles medical students need to come, the most important being graduation. There are many apps that have been developed to help med students on that journey, and even after graduation. After reading countless reviews, websites, and seeing what apps Harvard Med Students found the most helpful, here is a list of the top five apps for medical students:

1. Epocrates: This app topped many lists that I viewed and for good reason. According to its iTunes page, Epocrates is the number one mobile drug reference used by U.S. physicians, and apparently, 50 percent of physicians rely on it (how accurate that statement is, I have no clue). Before I get ahead of myself, the Epocrates is a company that has a variety of mobile apps available, ranging from anatomy, to first aid, to flash cards for different specialities. Most of them require a hefty fee, but the one I am talking about right now is free. The free version, which allows the user to “get quick access to reliable drug, disease, and diagnostic information at the point of care” has the following features:

Clinical information on thousands of prescription, generic, and OTC drugs
In-depth formulary information
Pill ID
Check for adverse reactions between up to 30 drugs at a time
Dozens of calculations, such as BMI and GFR
Current medical news, research, and information

The app is available for the iPhone, , Windows, and the Blackberry.

If you are willing to pay the price, the med students at Harvard recommend Epocrates Essentials, which costs $159 a year, but is far more comprehensive and can be purchased here.

2. iRadiology: Another free app, iRadiology is a “compendium of over 500 unique images demonstrating the classic radiological findings of a multitude of abnormalities.” The information is pulled from the teachings of Dr. Gillian Lieberman, Director of Harvard Medical Student Education. The resources are available without an Internet connection and would be perfect for studying on the go. The app has over 500 unique cases which have detailed descriptions and a discussion about the findings, quizzes that require the user to find abnormalities, real-life pictures, and a comprehensive keyword search.

The app is available for the iPhone.

3. Dynamed: This app has over 3,100 “evidence-based clinical summaries updated daily and intended for use primarily at the point-of-care.” The database is very comprehensive and organized alphabetically. Conditions, treatments, and more can be easily searched for and reviewed. This is a subscription based app and an access code is required in order to use the app. Many medical institutions have subscriptions and can give their access code to students. However, if your school doesn’t offer a subscription, contact for an access code. The app covers more than 850 subjects and features a comprehensive drug guide, medical alerts, and calculators.

The app is available for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows.

4. Medscape Mobile: With a nearly 5 star rating in the iTunes app store, 1.4 million healthcare professional users, and the #1 most downloaded free medical app in 2010, this is a must for all students and people working in the medical field. It is a very comprehensive go-to app with a little bit of everything. There is up-to-date meidcal news, clinical references for drugs and diseases, and its newest feature, medical calculators. The calculators have 129 medical formulas, scales, and classifications, and supports both US and SI systems. There is information on over 8,000 drugs, features more than 600 step-by-step procedure videos, and sections on different specialties. If you only download one app during medical school, consider this one.

This app is available for the iPhone, , Blackberry, and

5. Eponyms (for students): With the amount of eponyms that should be learned, this app helps make that process a little easier. Featuring over 1,700 “common and obscure” eponyms, 28 categories, and learn mode. Learn mode randomly displays different eponyms from a particular category that has been viewed recently, making it easy to review eponymns and get them committed to memory. The app uses a data base of eponyms created by Andrew J. Yee, which can be found here. Note that the free student version is only intended for students.

This app is available for the iPhone and .

Another Great Food Diary App To Consider

One thing I love about posting on Smart Phone Health Care is that when I’m researching for my posts, I come across pretty neat apps or ideas. Awhile back, I posted about some great food diary apps. Tonight, I want to talk about the latest one I have come across, called LoseIt! My interest was sparked after I read this article. The author said he lost 11 pounds in 6 weeks using this free app. After looking at the website and the mobile app I downloaded to my , I’m pretty impressed and going to start using it in conjunction with Couch-to-5k.

When registering, you are asked your age, gender, and how much you would like to lose a weight. You have to select between .5 and 2 pounds, and, depending on what you select, a daily calorie allotment is adjusted to your specific needs and gives a projected weight goal date. For someone who likes to see something full circle before I begin something, this is great, even though it’s not guarantee.

The process is simple enough. When logged-in, the home page is your log, and you simply just click on “Add Food” or “Add Exercise”, and assign a food to the correct meal. The food database isn’t too bad, but isn’t nearly as comprehensive as I found MyFitnessPal.com to be. The food section is fairly organized, allowing users to select from not only the database, but a selection of restaurants and supermarkets. I think that would be nice if you couldn’t remember the specific name of a food from a restaurant but could recognize it from a list.

There are quite a few different options on the website. Personal goals can be set (or adjusted). A variety of reports can be generated, such as weekly summaries, BMI, or a “MyPlate Report”. The “MyPlate Report” basically analyzes the food from your daily reports and shows you if it matches up with the recommendations from ChooseMyPlate.gov.

Users are encourage to use the app with friends, as the website claims “that users with 3 or more friends lose 3lbs more than users with no friends on Lose It!” There are also quite a few forums available for support, tips, or just chatting with fellow-users. I liked the “Teams, Contests, and Fun” forum the best, because who doesn’t like a little competition for motivation?

One of the best parts, in my opinion, about this website is the “motivators”. You can set reminders at certain times of the day to remind you to record meals if something hasn’t been recorded by a certain point. This reminds me a little bit of a smoking cessation program that has been created to help people quit smoking by sending motivational reminders throughout the day. I could see these reminders being helpful if a person knows when weak times are.

The app is easy to use but nothing too fancy. It’s simple to see how many calories are left for the day, as well as view a weekly report.

Overall, it seems like another great option for a food diary, but I think for the time being, I will stick with the MyFitnessPal platform. Fortunately, this is a free app that is available both for and iOS.

WebMD.com Goes Mobile With Well-Developed App

One of my favorite health-related websites is WebMD.com, so of course I had to download the app when it became available. While I was disappointed that the WebMD Baby app isn’t available for Android, there is a WebMD app for both Apple and Android platforms. Here is the description provided on

WebMD for Android helps you with your decision-making and health improvement efforts by providing mobile access 24/7 to mobile-optimized health information and decision-support tools including WebMD’s Symptom Check, Drugs & Treatments, First Aid Information and Local Health Listings. WebMD the App also gives you access to first aid information without having to be connected wirelessly — critical if you don’t have Internet access in the time of need.

For the most part, I really like the app. It is easy to navigate and has a lot of different features. You can sign up for an account with WebMD if you don’t have one, or link an already existing account. Either way, it doesn’t take too long to get into the app.

There are five main sections to the app, which were mentioned in the description above. They can be accessed from the front page of the app, which looks like this:

When selecting the “Symptom Checker” for the first time, I was asked my age, zip code, and gender. I’m not sure if it would ask this if any of the other sections were accessed first. I’m guessing this information is asked just so results can be more customized to your demographic.

I really like the symptoms checker. A digital figure of a body (male or female, depending on what you selected originally) where you select the part of your body that is currently of concern. From there, a list of potential diagnoses come up. Unfortunately, this portion for the app rarely works for me. It says it cannot connect without an Internet connection, even though my phone is connected through the Internet and my data plan. Because of this, I can’t really vouch for the usefulness of this, but if I ever can get it to work, I think it would be kind of neat. As such, I typically select the “list” view, where a list of body parts comes up. It’s nice to be able to scroll through and see different illness and read more about them, including the symptoms. However, as I mentioned in my post about the Internet and hypochondriacs, I have spent far too much time browsing the symptoms. That’s not the apps fault though!

Under the conditions tab, there are a few options. First, My Conditions. Here, you can login to a WebMD account and save conditions you are currently diagnosed with, drugs being used, and first aid information. Then there is the top searches tab, which shows just that — the top searched conditions. And finally, there is an A-Z list of all conditions that have available information on WebMD.

Drugs and treatments has the options as My Conditions does, but there is an additional section called Pill ID. I think this is a pretty neat little feature. You can figure out what type of pill something is (like, maybe you have to take several different pills and you’ve put them into a pill box, only to forget later on which pill is which) by selecting the shape, color, or imprint. There are a lot of different shapes and colors to choose from, and the option is available to type in any letters or numbers on a pill.

The First Aid section gives detailed information on how to treat various things, from asthma attacks to heart attacks to jellyfish stings. These are, of course, only supposed to be used as guidelines, and if there is a true emergency, it says to call 911 immediately. This is a great reference guide though, even if its an emergency, because I believe that its important to try and do something while waiting for medical assistance to arrive. I like this feature a lot.

Finally there is the local health listings. Here, you can search for a physician, pharmacy, or hospital near you. You must have a name or speciality in mind when selecting either of these, but from there, it will bring up a list of names, hospitals, or pharmacies nearby with all the necessary information (phone number, address, map, etc.). Having traveled a good amount in the past few months, and in some cases needed to find a pharmacy in an unfamiliar area, this would have been really helpful to have!

Overall, its a great app. I’d even go as far as saying its a necessary one for everyone to have on their phone. I think it is unfortunate that, beyond the first aid section, an Internet connection is required, but beyond that, I don’t have any complaints!

Download here for Apple devices

Download for Android

Another Migraine App Enters the Market

There’s a whole host of apps for migraines becoming available. After reviewing Migraine Meter, I was asked to review another migraine app. Over at EMRandHIPAA.com, John wrote about a start-up company called Ubiqi Health, which has both an online platform and app to help monitor and help with migraines. Since I wasn’t a big fan of Migraine Meter, I was excited to see how this one works. The website says:

We know that understanding and managing your migraines takes a lot of effort and can often feel like an uphill struggle. Ubiqi Health makes it easier for you with simple tools that can be used anywhere to track your progress and, ultimately, gain more control over your health.

For the purpose of this post, I will be focusing on the mobile app.

First off, the app is free. Awesome, awesome. It’s available for both Android and Apple users, which is great news for everyone.

For both Android and Apple devices, it currently has almost 5 stars. Just looking at the information listed on there, and the screen shots, makes me feel like it is better than Migraine Meter already. The colors are nice, mainly just white and blue, and it looks like it was designed well. After looking around the website and the description, I decided to try it out myself.

Basically the app has four main things it asks you to track: When the migraine happened, how sever it was, what treatments were used, and any possible/noticeable triggers. The app was created by talking to people who suffer from migraines and finding out their needs. Smart move. Anyways…

First off, when the app is first opened, a registration screen pops up. It asks for basic information, such as email address, age, location, and gender. Pretty simple, and I was able to register pretty quickly.

After registering, you are brought to the home page. Here is a screen shot of it:

As you can see, there are six different sections. Let’s start with “Track Episode” (I think the picture that goes along with that tab is fairly accurate in depicting a migraine, yes?). You simply enter the date/time it started, ended, and intensity. You can also add treatments and triggers, if any of that information is available. For treatments, it has three preset ones (abortive medicine, darkness, and inactivity), but you can enter anything else you did, and for triggers, it has quite a few common ones as well. Entering date and time is really easy, as is entering the other information. For some reason, it bothers me that the triggers/treatments aren’t capitialized, it just seems kind of unpolished. But that’s just personal preference.

Next, there are the track triggers and track treatments. Basically, you enter in the same information you put in the track episode section, and because of that, it feels a bit repetitive. The only part is new, is entering the time of the treatments/triggers. I feel like if these are going to be separate sections, it shouldn’t be included in the track episode section. I think I would only put that information in one of the places, rather than both.

I have the same feelings about the note section as I did about the separate treatment and trigger sections. You can add notes in track episode.

Next, there is view feed. Basically, it just puts all of your activity here. Not much else to say about that.

Finally, when all is said and done, you can select get report, and have a report sent to your email about migraines. This report can be useful for doctor’s appointments, or just for finding patterns in general. I think this could be very useful.

Overall, I like the app. It’s super simple and easy to use. It doesn’t have any “extra” stuff like Migraine Meter (I just didn’t really care for the migraine news section that was the front page of the app), and it’s easy to navigate. It’s also really fast, and information can be input quickly. My only complaints are, as I’ve already mentioned, that the information was a bit repetitive. I get that the “track episode” section is supposed to have all the information in it about each episode, but I just don’t like that you have to enter triggers and treatments in different sections. I think it would be nice to just have to enter the date, time, and intensity here, and somehow have it get linked to the other sections.

This app can be downloaded for Android products , and Apple products here.

Go From Couch Potato to Runner with Couch-to-5K App

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m no runner. When I met my husband, he told me that he wanted to run a 5K that summer (which, I have to admit right now, never happened). Trying to impress him, I told him I wanted to as well. He then suggested a podcast he had heard of called Couch to 5k — because he probably guessed I wasn’t a runner. I found the podcast online somewhere and uploaded it to my mp3 player. I probably used it for about 2 weeks, and then life got in the way for awhile. While I continued to run, I kind of gave up on the podcast. After I got pregnant, I pretty much never ran because I was sick just about the whole 9 months, and since giving birth, haven’t really gotten back into it.

So when my sister suggested that we run together, I mentioned the couch-to-5k series. At first, I started searching for the podcast online, but then I decided to see if there was an app created for it. And lo and behold, there is, for both the iPhone and Android phones. You’ll have to fork out 1.99 (or .99 for the iPhone), but I think it’s worth it.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Couch-to-5k (otherwise called, C25k) program, here’s a little description from the website, written by the creator, Josh Clark:

C25k, is a fantastic program that’s been designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9weeks. With the help of the Couch to 5k program, in less than seven months, I went from a 47 year old, 104kg, 30 cigarettes a day sort of guy to an 82k, 0 cigarettes, running 45 to 40 kilometers a week sort of guy. Ten months after finishg C25k I completed my first marathon. Since then I have run another 5 marathons, as well as 8 ultra marathons including a 100km race. . . Its secret is that it’s a gentle introduction to getting the body moving, starting off alternating between walking and running small distances, and slowly building up until after 8 weeks, you’re ready to run 5 kilometers or 30 minutes non stop.

Although I have never completed the program, I definitely did notice my endurance building during the time I did it. I’m excited to use this new app though and see if it can help motivate me even more. Even though I haven’t had time to use it yet, I figured I’d do a little overview of it.

First off, I love the color schemes. I don’t know why, but the colors of an app really matter to me. The color scheme depends on which “trainer” you select. Here are the three options:

I decided to select Constance for the time being…though if I need a little more tough love, I may select another one. Each of the workouts is led by whichever trainer is selected, and the color scheme changes accordingly as well. Below is the one for Constance. It’s light and easy to look at. The other ones are a bit more intense, but they are still nice.

The above picture is also the front screen of the app. It shows up with whatever date you are on, and you can skip ahead (or go backwards) if needed. Your “trainer” gives a bit of advice or encouragement at the bottom of the screen. The top of the screen features a status bar, to show how far into the program you are.

Once you click on “Go To Workout”, you will be brought to this screen:

At this point, you can choose to listen to music that is already loaded on your phone, or enable GPS. I love the GPS feature, because I always like to see where I ran, and how long I ran for. One thing I wish was included is the background music that was on the original podcast. It just seems like you are told every so often when to change up the pace. It is nice that you can use your own music, but I really enjoyed the pace of the music on the podcast.

Once you press start, this screen pops up with the time left, which stage you are at, distance, and average pace. It’s easy to read, and you can pause the workout if you want to.

There is another tab called “Log” where you can select a smiley (or sad) face depending on how the workout made you feel, plus write down some thoughts from the workout. You then have the option to post to Facebook or Twitter, if that’s your style.

Next, there is a tab with 5k events near you. It lists all the ones that are coming up and some even give you a discount for registering on select races.

Finally, the settings tab lets you adjust certain futures such as the trainer, voice volume and music options.

Overall, I like this app a lot, from the limited exposure to it I’ve had. Once I’ve used it for a few weeks, I’ll be back with my experience, but for now, I’m excited to use it.

Download here for the iPhone (.99)
for Android (1.99)

Better Sleep from a Smartphone

Sleep. It’s overrated, right?

Not so much. It’s truly amazing how the correct amount of sleep can do for a person…and somewhat shocking what the lack of can do. Sleep and a healthy life go hand in hand. I mean, check out some of these facts listed on this webpage from Harvard:

Many of the costs of poor sleep go unnoticed. Medical conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, develop over long periods of time and result from a number of factors, such as genetics, poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Insufficient sleep has also been linked to tehse and other health problems, and is considered an important risk factor. Although scientists have just begun to identify the connections between insufficient sleep and disease, most experts have concluded that getting enough high-quality sleep may be as important to health and well-being as nutrition and exercise.

Seriously, go and read the article I linked to up there. It seems like many people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, trying to be healthy. We pay outrageous gym fees, meticulously plan healthy meals, and go to extremes in order to be healthy. But how many of those people get a decent amount of sleep each night? I bet a lot of health issues could be eliminated, or at least significantly improved, if we spent more time sleeping.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t get as much as I need. Part of that comes with the territory of having a 2-month-old baby, but my issues with sleep started long before my baby was born. Sometimes, it’s just plain hard to fall asleep and especially to get some good ol’ REM sleep.

So what does this have to do with mobile healthcare? Well, it’s something I like to call white noise. It’s not a new idea. I’ve been told my entire life that putting a fan on helps a person fall to sleep, or listening to the rain. However, sometimes a fan isn’t available, and we obviously can’t control the weather. Luckily, there’s tons of white noise apps available to download, many of which are free.

A few months ago, my husband downloaded White Noise Lite for the iPhone. Not only does it lull my son to sleep, but whenever it’s on, I feel more rested and energetic the next day. All of my worries and thoughts from that day disappeared as I listened to a combination of an oscillating fan, waves crashing, and thunder. I swear by white noise, and I think it’s awesome that a phone can be turned into a white noise machine with just the push of a button.

So are you looking to improve you health? Get more sleep. Have a hard time falling asleep? Download a white noise app. I can almost guarantee you’ll feel better in the morning, which will hopefully create more energy for more efficient workouts. And, most importantly, get amazing benefits that only sleep can give. I know that these apps weren’t created solely as health apps, but I sure think they are!

Here are some of the top-rated white noise apps for different smartphones:

White Noise:

for the iPhone: 1.99 version, free version

for Android: ,

for Blackberry: 1.99 version

Simply Noise (apparently, the best sound machine .99 can buy, and has not only white noise, but brown and pink. Whatever that means). For the iPhone. .

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- The Fitness Tracker Fallout (1)
  - docweighsin: Hey John, so funny, I am starting to think like you! bit.ly/WwTi6U I think we will see a migration from...
- What’s in the DNA of Your Mobile Health Startup? (2)
  - John: I’d love to hear your story. What you describe can be a challenge, but it’s a little different when...
  - Hari: Hi – Great suggestion to companies that are at the crossroads of trying to sell both to consumers and...
- Racy Video Promotes New Smartphone Pulse Oximeter (5)
  - John: Dr. Albert, You seem to be pretty familiar with this topic. They did note in the comments of the YouTube video...
  - David Albert, MD: I hope this video is a comedy. Now if they were using a pulse ox “during” strangulation...
  - John: Hi Pat, I’m trying to lighten up, but all these mHealth devices aren’t motivating me to exercise or...
- Happtique Halts Mobile Health App Certification (1)
  - Lauren Still: When it comes to clinical quality, workflow and UX, let the end users decide what works best for them....
- What Consumer Medical Device is The Best Form Factor? (1)
  - rik warren: How about the ear? Newest forms embrace this location and provide access to all vitals as well as body...
- 56% of Consumers Never Use a Mobile Health App or Device (1)
  - Carl Bergman, ehrselector.com: The survey states: “This online survey is not based on a probability sample and...
- Will Mobile Health Devices Become Mandated Care? (2)
  - Dr George Margelis: It makes good sense to have personalised care plans for patients with chronic disease, and this...
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