Mobile Health: Using My Mobile to Improve My Health

‘Stay away from screens!’.. ‘Mobiles will bring an end to your vision!’.. ‘Network and internet devices are destroying our health!’… Don’t we all hear these statements? And we start defending this new era of technology that has advanced the way we live and changed our whole world. Well! Although this new world has many challenges, here’s an added defense you can use next time. ‘My mobile can help maintain my health!’ What you’re reading is true. Using internet-enabled devices can now help in the enhancement of the health ecosystem. Mobile health services have brought us an interesting way to track our health. So let’s reshape the global healthcare ecosystem.

The concept of mobile health

Mobiles are pocket-sized powerhouses. They are proof of how tiny things can make a huge change. They ease our lives by playing a vital role as a shortcut to most services, including our healthcare. Mobile health, sometimes called mHealth, is utilizing the power of these mobiles. It can also include the usage of laptops, tablets, or any internet-enabled device. All for improving healthcare delivery, outcomes, and research. It enables individuals to self-monitor their health. It engages them in analyzing their vitals and outcomes. This shortcut leads to a global healthier lifestyle. With mobile health, people have more access to their health data. They can learn about ways to improve their health. They can even get notified when it’s mandatory to visit a doctor. Benefits extend to health providers as well. Those can get more aware of up-to-date real data from their patients. All together this creates a strong cycle to improve the healthcare sector.

The Challenge: Merging 2 Independent Environments

A Flashback

Deep down in the memory lane of this world, there was a time when we had no mobiles. We didn’t know of the internet and we didn’t have real-world apps at the tip of our fingers. How did we deal with our health back then?

First, our ancestors worked all day and had enough sunlight and nutrients. They were, with no doubt, healthier. But any issue they faced, or any unusual occurrence would make them freak out. They would hurry to insult a doctor or a healthcare professional. The lack of data and research in the past or the immobility made things harder, and many times put lives at stake. Clinical experiments were always done and archives were always in use. But how about simplifying all this? Don’t we all have now a small guide carrying it around in our pockets? Don’t we need encouragement in leading a healthy lifestyle as most of us are now working behind a desk? And aren’t global researches within the reach of each junior or senior health provider?

Introducing Mobile Health

The world is evolving and so is the health sector. Mobiles now connect people thousands of miles apart. So why not use it for monitoring our own health as well? By introducing mobile healthcare — we are not neglecting, but rather enhancing roles in the ecosystem.

Due to the transparency of data — professionals, as well as patients, now gain more control over their health. Patients have more control over this data as well. They are even engaged in monitoring their health. Their mobiles can now contain some diagnostics tools and self-care apps. With the proper guidance and education from health providers, such tools can lead to an improved healthcare ecosystem.

Merging 2 Independent Environments

Traditional healthcare and research are all about clinical, evidence-based medicare. While commercial mobile health services are more about self-care. Each of these environments has evolved alone and is now trying to merge!

Traditional medical care has depended on tested protocols. It developed health standards over hundreds of years and generations of understanding. The second environment is commercial mobile health. The latter emerged from the power of technology. It depends on the need of individuals to self-manage. To be also more involved in monitoring their own health.

The merge of the 2 environments nowadays created a new enhanced health ecosystem. It depends on the circle tying all stakeholders together, starting from healthy individuals checking and reporting their health data… to patients daily monitoring symptoms… to researchers… doctors… and healthcare providers… All use digital health data to help in the growth of the healthcare sector.

Mobile Health Services Improving Healthcare

The human nature within us is always up for a challenge. You can see family members challenging themselves on who walked more steps. They set wins on who burnt more calories or lost more weight during a specific time span. Another trait that intrigues us is our curiosity. We need to know all that’s going on around us, so how about our own body and how well it’s functioning! Mobile Health services have granted us all these functionalities. It introduced many applications that help us in tracking our health. We always end up ignoring or forgetting simple yet important things in our busy lives.

Mobile Health introduced apps that can remind us of simple tasks such as drinking water or regular checkups. Services also offer to record our healthy activities. We can check our heartbeats, our vitals, and our wellness in general. Mobile Health allows healthcare consumers to receive guidance on their specific conditions. They can check appointments, lab results, and much more. But it’s not only that. Mobile healthcare technology increases the ability to collect ‘big data’ as well. This can be necessary for the future of mobile medicine.

Big data can help reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of treatment and productivity. It even inspires new treatments and pharmaceutical options. In 2021, Skedulo stated in its article: ‘The future of healthcare and Mobile Healthcare Technology’ that there were more than 325,000 mHealth apps available to both patients and providers. The apps fall under many categories. There were clinical or diagnostic apps.. remote monitoring apps.. clinical reference apps.. productivity apps and healthy living apps.

Real-World Revolution in Mobile Health

People can now check their health vitals by using mobile apps or wearable technology. These mobile health services offered to us are already enhancing the healthcare system. Many apps proved to play an important role in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Others helped in diabetes prevention, and much more. The list of projects in the field of mobile health includes a new showcase. A project that enables a user to earn a cryptocurrency called DHP! The currency is native to a health foundation: dHealth Network.

dHealth Network is a foundation dedicated to the healthcare ecosystem. Blockchain technology is its building block. It aims to decentralize data and place the individual at the network’s center! dHealth deployed a project recently called “HealthToEarn”. The project enables a person to earn DHP. dHealth’s wallet is the place to record all health-related transactions using DHPs. To earn DHP is so simple. Individuals can only report their health data using the Strava app. They can record healthy daily exercises or regular activities.

To sum up, a people-centric revolution is happening around us! And its vision is obvious: To improve our lifestyle and the global healthcare sector.

***

dHealth is a layer-1 protocol built for the healthcare industry. We’re tokenising the access and exchange of valuable health data by bridging the gap between corporations in the Web 2 world with a decentralised Medverse in the Web 3 world.
Follow us for more educational content on Medium or stay in touch, here:
Twitter | Telegram | Discord | Facebook | LinkedIn