Fitness Band Craze – Helping or Hurting the MHealth World?

Health bands such as Fitbit and Jawbone are becoming the forefront of the technological scene. Nearly every major company is exploring the fitness band craze; Apple and Microsoft both have fitness watch components coming next year, and other companies either already have bands out or are quickly following suit. Slim wristbands are appearing on everyone, from your teenage neighbor to the CEO of your company. These bands started out as digital pedometers, measuring steps and setting goals. Now, they encompass everything from heart rate to run distance, suggesting workout plans and even noticing when you stand up. The focus on fitness has grown in the past decade, and continues to boom. The demand for increased fitness technology is the cause for these bands’ inception and success, and motivates further innovation. Healthy living requires perseverance and a modicum of focus. These fitness bands provide information and motivation in a readily accessible format, creating a bridge to exercise. Once you step out of a sedentary lifestyle it grows easier to maintain an exercise regime.

These fitness bands are inexorably connected to the mHealth world. Fitness is the side of healthcare to which every consumer is able to connect. Everyone needs to maintain a fit life, no matter if they are healthy or not, and mobile solutions can make this easier. Someone who has no other connection or interest to mobile healthcare might be greatly interested in fitness apps and technology, intrigued by the idea of monitoring healthy living on a mobile level. The boom of health bands is a great victory for the proponents of mobile healthcare technology. With fitness bands, the average citizen gets introduced to mobile healthcare, and has a stake in wanting it to advance and succeed. The more money and interest is poured into fitness bands the more research can be done. The same technology that allows wristbands to monitor heart rate and step count can assist in technology that monitors chronic disease. Diabetes sufferers could benefit from technology that helped monitor insulin and other levels easily. The research and focus that is now being directed towards monitoring technology is a signifigant step forward for mobile healthcare. The booming popularity of fitness bands seems like a consumer craze, but its repercussions are widespread and beneficial. Research in the mHealth field is encouraging and should be advocated, especially research into a field as important as monitoring technology. Focus on technology that assists chronic patients could revolutionize the world of healthcare and bring comfort and simplicity to a group of people who struggle with complex situations. That is why the popularity of fitness bands should be celebrated by mHealth advocates everywhere.