Thursday, December 22, 2016

Taking Care of Your Health with Apps for Your Phone


FTC disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post from U.S. Cellular.  All opinions are my own.

A few years ago I went to a fitness camp.  While there, we learned about several apps that we could use to track fitness and health.  Thanks to nationwide 3G coverage, even though I was in Texas, I was able to use my U.S. Cellular phone to download some of those apps and even show others how to use the ones I had become accustomed to using.  Since then, the number of apps available have exploded in this area -- and beyond.  Back then it was mainly apps to track fitness and count calories, but now there are so many ways you can help manage your health with your mobile device.

Two useful apps in managing diabetes and watching your blood sugar are The Diabetes Tracker (cost $9.99) This app helps individuals better understand and manage their diabetes and diets.  You can track insulin and medication and set reminders to test your blood glucose.  MySugr Diabetes Logbook (free) is a great app that synchronizes health dad by Bluetooth.  This allows you to log meals and view glucose graphs.  (The MySugr app is one we learned about at the fitness camp!)



CareZone (free) allows you to create lists of medicines, dosages, and schedules from your phone's photo library.  This is so helpful because just this week I was at a new doctor's office and I couldn't remember what the name of all my medicines are, or the dosages.  With this app you can also schedule reminders for upcoming appointments.  What a great feature.  This week alone my husband and I had a total of 10 appointments and keeping track of these can be a nightmare.

Instant Heart Rate (free) allows you to measure heart rate by placing your finger on the phone's camera.

My Medical ($4.99) is an app for comprehensive record keeping of things like immunizations, insurance information, emergency contacts, doctors information, and more.  You can also keep track of your children's medical information, or that for those you are serve as a caregiver.

For non-emergency situations you can download the app Doctor on Demand.  The app is free, but the video visit with a board certified physician costs $49.  Your insuranc company may have a virtual medicine service that will allow you to pay even less for a co-pay than if you were to see your doctor in person.  I know mine does -- which is nice if I ever am sick with something like the flu and can't get to see my doctor because of his scheduling or if I just feel to bad to get up, dressed, and make the 30 minute drive.

Virtual medicine is becoming a trend, and we're probably just in the infancy of it.  A recent U.S. Cellular survey showed 17% of smartphone owners use a connected device to monitor their health, 9% track their medicines, and 7% track blood sugar.  Whenever I am on antibiotics that need to be taken every six hours (which is way too often, unfortunately), I use the countdown/timer function on my phone to remind me when to take my next pill.  It's easy to hit the start button and I don't have to reset it to six hours each time.  I was on ten months of antibiotics a few years ago and this is how I kept all my dosages on schedule.

In addition to health, its important to review safety of cell phones and mobile devices with children.  Please click on the button below to receive a FREE PRINTABLE of a parent-child cell phone safety and usage agreement from U.S Cellular.


Also, I have a fair of U.S. Cellular branded earbuds to give away to someone who reads this blog post.  Giveaway ends 12/31.  One entry per day per household.  Open only to the USA.  Must be 18 or older.  Winner has 48 hours to respond to winning e-mail or another winner may be chosen.




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