Healthcare costs are rising for consumers and for companies providing health insurance to their employees. One solution many companies have explored to help mitigate healthcare costs has been to encourage individuals to focus on preventative care and overall healthy lifestyle choices. When people develop healthy habits, the need for medical care tends to go down and the amount of money spent on medical care goes with it.
Mobile applications exist for virtually every purpose, including a growing number of apps designed to help individuals monitor their personal health and fitness. Some great examples of these apps can be found for both iOS users and Android users:
- Loseit! (iOS): Loseit! is a free app designed to help users count calories. It also provides nutrition information for many popular restaurants, allowing users to make intelligent choices while dining out. This particular app also allows users to keep track of physical activity, to monitor both caloric intake and calories burned while exercising. Again, this is one of many apps for the purpose of monitoring diet and fitness, and it happens to be free of charge
- iBody (iOS): On the other end of the price spectrum at $9.99, the iBody application provides many of the same functions as the free Loseit! app, but goes much further. Space for recording heart rate and blood pressure can help users maximize the effectiveness of their workouts. These are but two example of a myriad of options available up and down the price scale, so depending on your specific goals and needs there is an app out there that will meet the cost and functionality parameters for which you are looking.
- Endomono Sports Tracker (Android): The Sports Tracker helps users map jogging routes and track distance and average speeds. It also provides audio feedback for every mile/kilometer traveled and a history of users' lap times and music playlists. This app also includes elements of gamification, allowing users to challenge friends to beat their time on routes and share the results of their workouts on Facebook.
- Food & Nutrition (Android): The Food & Nutrition Tracker is helpful when used in conjunction with the Sports Tracker if weight loss is one of your specific goals. This app provides nutrition information on thousands of foods which makes it easy to make decisions that best mesh with your physical activity level as you work to achieve your goals.
- AllSports GPS (Android): If you find using two free apps to be too cumbersome, the AllSports GPS app is $9.99 and it tracks exercise information such as calories burned, distance traveled, and average speed. It also functions as a calorie counter to help keep track of caloric intake. This app is also great for individuals who like to share goals and progress with friends and family.
There are many more apps available than can be discussed here, so rest assured that one or more exists (or will exist soon) to help anyone get healthy and stay healthy. You'll save money in the long run by avoiding many health problems associated with a lack of proper nutrition and exercise. Your body will thank you and perhaps your employer will thank you as well.