2024-09-14 02:50:00
One of the most complex jobs Managing our health is all about daily habits. It is worth noting that many common pathologies: +diabetes, obesity, overweight, hypertension, among others – they can be greatly improved (and even cured), without taking medicine. Like? choosing one appropriate daily dietdo regular physical exercise and adopting a handful of healthy habits.
Of course, anyone knows from personal experience that it is not easy to have time every day to walk many kilometers, reduce salt consumption, improve the quality of food, quit smoking or reduce alcohol consumption. Typically, preventive medicine seeks to motivate people to follow healthy behaviors. On the way you enter Be encouragedA mobile application, free to use, that seeks to use game skills and strategies to facilitate small – but significant – changes in the daily behavior and habits of its users, in a personalized way and optimized to the needs and individual psychology.
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“There are many mobile phone applications for doctors, but There are still a few that can really help patients. It seems to us that we can develop an application that will help people who suffer from very common chronic diseases (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, etc.) to better manage their health problems,” he explained. to PROFILE Dr. Hugo Villafañe, specialist in medical information and Medical Director of the organization that launched “Be encouraged“. And he explains: “it serves to facilitate the selection and daily maintenance of healthy habits. It is not a small thing because of some of the most common pathologies, a change in habits or food can be important that allows you to reduce the amount of medicine you take daily. Also, in some cases, even reversing the disease and stopping the drugs completely. “
Of course, coming up with this idea wasn’t easy – they’ve been developing it for a year – and that’s where the app contributes. “We all have a smartphone and we are constantly exploring it. If used properly, the phone can record what we do and show us results and thoughts in an intuitive way, using games, decision making, encouragement when they occur, etc.”
The gamification of life
These systems, known as “improvement“, adapted to the person and the needs of each person through the principles of Artificial intelligence. And that makes it even easier for you to achieve your daily goals in terms of walking, exercising, choosing foods that provide fewer calories, choosing healthy snacks, not smoking, drinking, controlling stress and other health measures. It is, to understand it better, something similar to what materials are used to learn languages with “streams”, the points you get for completing tasks, competing with peers, etc. and lots of “positive reinforcement,” a technique known in psychology to periodically share more effective messages for each patient to follow.
Achieving better engagement
The issue of adherence to treatments to actually improve is not trivial. According to known data, in general, only 40% of patients are truly “adherent” (that is, compliant in detail) with their doctor’s prescriptions in the long term. And that shows how complicated it is for treatments to be truly effective in recovery. Most do it partially and it explains many complications of pathologies that are manageable if they are treated properly. Therefore, any process that allows us to improve progress – like this new app – and comply with recommendations to stay well is a significant contribution.
Six out of every ten Argentines are overweight and one out of every four is obese
Right now The app and platform are free to use for patients, but its use is associated with some institutions (community, social services, private companies, health providers, etc.). that the promotion between them customers.
Behavioral sciences
Downloads and personal tips offered by the application they are not random They are based on recent advances in behavioral science and are tailored to help motivate each person. That is, you really “stick” to the ideas and actions that improve your health every day. These new digital health options”laptop“They have also already been used successfully to improve the treatment of more serious diseases, such as heart failure or some attention deficit disorders.
Although this type of material belongs to the category “Health and Wellness”, they are not considered typical “medical products” because it is not a material related to therapy and does not need to be approved by organizations such as Anmat. In any case, the developers of Motivia already plan in the near future to carry out studies and validations that will allow them to add their app to the “digital therapy” categories.
What they confirmed from “Motivia” is that the changes in the behavior of people who tend to take care of their health more, also produce a maximum in health care: in a recent study conducted on 200 people who use Motivia, its managers. recorded a 25% reduction in the costs of treating chronic diseases and a 75% reduction in hospitalization rate,” Villafañe concluded.
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