Category: Tech


The Disney Magic

Filed under: Health, Kids, Tech — 5 Comments
May 11, 2010

Recently, I had an opportunity to play with the (free) Toy Story Disney iPad app.   This tool is a great example of interactive learning for children.  It is part book, part movie, it has games….It’s the type of tool that has kids going back  to it again and again.  Well what does this have to do with Health and Wellness you ask?

As per the Disney Institute:

“ Walt Disney was, and will always remain, that rare breed: an artistic genius who, with the unflagging and essential support of his brother, Roy, created an effective organizational model and efficient work environment where employees were recognized for their achievements, encouraged to work as a team and, by striving for excellence, continually broke the confines of the status quo to surpass the expectations of the world.“

We must attempt to go beyond the status quo in healthcare and make some Disney magic.  Imagine what healthcare would be like if it was up to Disney?  In the words of MD Bill Crounse’s If Disney did Healthcare :

“If Disney did healthcare our hospitals and clinics would be impeccably clean, safe and extremely efficient despite the press of humanity seeking services there every day.“

I think that the innovative story app that Disney created for the iPad encourages kids to read.  Imagine, from a health prevention perspective, if that Disney magic were leveraged to create an app that encouraged healthy behaviour and habits in kids.  That would truly be magical!

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Team Buy

Filed under: Health, Tech, The Toolbox — 7 Comments
April 20, 2010

Yesterday, I decided to take the “better way” (aka the Toronto subway) downtown to a meeting.  As I was making my way towards Yonge and Bloor I noticed a bit of commotion.  There were fellows on loud speakers and dressed up.  It looked like a rally of some sort, which I wanted to avoid, but due to construction could not.  So I marched through this group of  young people  and received a postcard.  I would have tossed it out except I was intrigued by the logo—teambuy.ca-buyers unite.

What is Team Buy?  It’s a company trying to shift the power of buying into the consumers hands. It’s “collaborative buying, leading to massive discounts”.   I love the idea, because I love a good deal.  Everyday there is a new item on for ‘sale’, they require a certain number of people  to sign up to buy the item for the sale, in order for the sale to go through.

Now let me back track a bit.  This idea of the power of buying was alluded to at the TED conference by Jamie Oliver and his food revolution.  It’s the concept that when banded together, consumers have huge buying power  and can  insist that companies provide us with better and healthier products.  I like teambuy.ca because of the potential for savings on products, food and services.  I think, however, beyond just good deals, something like teambuy.ca could facilitate the purchasing of healthy food for people.  Often, it is cheaper for people to simply buy fast food rather than a healthy alternative.  With Team Buy, there is the potential to leverage their buying model for healthy alternatives.  Talk about a win-win situation:  good deals on good healthy food.

Check out Team Buy and let the Buyers Unite!

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Reviewing a Cooking App on the iPad

Filed under: Cooking, Tech, The Toolbox — 8 Comments
April 12, 2010

Well I managed to pry my husband’s iPad from his hands for a short while so I could explore some apps.  One app I wanted to share with you was an app called Epicurious and I thought the best way to do this would be to give you a few minutes of video of me using the application.   I hope you enjoy the video.  If you are getting an iPad, this is definitely an app to put on – it’s free and loaded with 27,000+ recipes!

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Initial Thoughts on Evoke

Filed under: Health, Tech — 4 Comments
March 11, 2010

I am now an “agent” in the Evoke network.   Evoke is an online game , but unlike other games it’s  a ‘crash course on changing the world’.  The mission  this past week was to master the mindset of a social innovator.    I completed the following in my first Mission: 1) learned the secret code to innovation, 2) Discovered an interesting social entrepeneur  SHE that I am following via blog and twitter, and 3) I imagined myself in 10 years.  You can see the blogs I wrote as a part of the game on my profile at Evoke.   Mission 2 is based on Food security and I will start that tomorrow.

The game is not what I expected.  My experience with games being somewhat limited to arcade type games, the Wii Fit, the Ninetendo DS and the Sony  Playstation, I thought the game was going to be something like that.  I am not normally a gamer; I participate occasionally with my husband and children.  This game, however, is more puzzle like, (imagine the pieces being scattered throughout the internet ) and you’re trying  to put the  pieces together in a collaborative environment.  I must say  that I am enjoying the “learning aspect” of this game and will continue on as I am curious to see  1) how this game /technology will tackle the issue of health and 2) what ideas will be generated in relation to health by working collaboratively with people from around the world.  In other words, is there something that is being done elsewhere in health that we can also benefit from?  I’m also curious to see if what I’m doing here can potentially benefit someone abroad.

From what I have experienced so far, I say, “kudos” to Jane McGonigal on such an innovative effort!

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10,000 Hours to a Healthier You

Filed under: Fitness, Health, Tech, The Toolbox — 12 Comments
March 7, 2010

Last week I added brain exercises to my daily routine to protect my mind against cognitive decline. I borrowed my children’s Nintendo DS and popped in the Brain Age game (which they were kind enough to lend to me), and started with the testing to determine the age of my brain.  Yikes I really needed to get exercising.  I really enjoyed the activity and have seen quick results as the cobwebs are being brushed away.

I began to wonder, what could one do if they don’t have accesss to the Nintendo DS and I came upon Lumosity.  What Lumosity provides are brain game.  Here is what their website provides as info:

  • Shown to improve memory and attention
  • Detailed feedback and improvement tracking
  • Fun and easy: full workout in less than 10 minutes/day

If you don’t have access to something like the DS, Lumosity is a good online tool.  When you exercise both the body and the mind what do you get?  Well according to research it is possible to rewire the brain, and this process is called neuroplasticity.  For more detail, give this Time magazine article a read.  This interesting “rewiring”, both through physical and mental exercise reminded me of a book I recently read.

The book is titled Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell.  In that book, Gladwell’s observations are that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something.  According to Gladwell, there is no short cut to success.  It takes time and effort.  I fully agree.  I think that this extends into the rewiring of our brains to adopt a healthy lifestyle.  You need to exercise both body and mind.  If you contiually practice and repeat over and over a particular good habit, it will stick over time.

That is why diets and New Year’s gym resolutions easily fall by the wayside.  Building off of Gladwell’s 10,000 hour premise, I posit, you need 10,000 hours to become an expert in your own health.  There is no easy way to it.  Yes, we can take baby steps that are easy to do (like a pedometer for example), but it all takes time and effort.

Tomorrow I will…..continue logging my hours!

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Cheers to the Happy Couple -Tech and Health: Act 2

Filed under: Health, Tech — Leave a comment
March 2, 2010

Its amazing what one uncovers when they begin to dig.  In yesterday’s post I was researching to see whether I could find tech and health merge together  in the hopes of becoming embedded in our everyday.  So I continued to do a little more digging and what I found was amazing.  So, as our government tries to figure out how to create/implement e-health records, countries like Spain have embraced smart phone technology to help diabetics and their clinical educators manage their condition remotely. Readings are taken, then transmitted via cellphone to a clinical educator who analyzes the client’s results and makes recommendations as needed via phone.  Here is a short 3 minute clip worth watching that gives some great info on what I’m describing.

There is value in this because this process can save the client time in not only in the collection of data for a later visit with the practitioner, but also it could allow the practitioner  time  to focus on other  critical issues. It’s a good example of how to manage your health collaboratively with your health practitioner.  You get a more personalized partnership with your doctor that you couldn’t do without technology.

I also came upon Voxia.  They provide services such as a smoking cessation, maternal health, diabetes treatment adherence, flu and HIV/Aids programs that  help people manage their health using technology.  This is helping people stay healthy and at the same time decreasing healthcare costs. This program does not appear to be available at this time in Canada and it makes me wonder “Why not?”  It is fascinating to see how technology can be threaded into your day to keep you thinking about your health and well being.

Lastly,   TED just recently released the following video, this is what will make the “stethoscope obsolete”.  I’ve added the video below for you to watch.  Imagine being able to use your smart phone  to monitor your fetal heart rate or contractions, continuous monitoring of blood glucose, blood pressure, vital signs, signs of heart failure, sleep patterns… this is what’s coming!

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The Tech Marriage – I Now Pronounce You Technology and Health

Filed under: Health, Tech — 3 Comments
March 1, 2010

This weekend I found myself reflecting on a few of the tools I’ve been using.  Let’s start with the pedometer.  I’ve really enjoyed using it.  To date, this is what I’ve learned:

  1. That my activities of daily living (everything I do throughout  the day minus walking/exercise) does not amount to 10000 steps.
  2. A moderate paced walk for 1 hour approximately equals 10000 steps.
  3. The pedometer  has acted as an inexpensive motivator , every time I looked down and saw  my step count I increased my activity level.

In all the pedometer has been a good investment for me.

Next, I became aware of the DirectLife Philps Activity Monitor in a TED video and also received a comment in one of my posts regarding the device. This device is a  waterproof accelerometer  that you wear all day to monitor your  activity.  At the end of the day you plug the device into your computer and access your personal direct life website. Here you can see how active you were during your day and compare this to your goals.  You are also provided with personal coaching via the website. Sounds great, sign me up so I can test it, only one problem, not yet available in Canada.

I wonder, though, if this device will have the option of being iPhone enabled?  It would seem like the next logical step to marry the this kind of monitor with the smart phone. Since applications on the  smart phone can already detect movement,  and most people carry a phone , having an application on the phone would eliminate the step of connecting at the end of the night to access your personal website.  Rather, have the device continually feed your personal (and secure) website throughout the day and receive instantaneous message, similar to the Martha Stewart app, which pushes forward everyday what the recipe of the day is.  Although I realize its not going to be waterproof  most of our days are spent on dry land.

Next, I have been testing the Heart and Stroke Healthy Weight plan that I wrote about previously.  I completed week one and am almost at the end of week two.  Here are my initial thoughts.  The site is easy to follow and full of good information.  I  hope in time the paper based food and activity log will be replaced with an easy and quick  application that can feed the information directly into the system.  This in turn will provide detailed information that can then be analyzed  and  goals can be more specific given the input.  Currently,  you keep a food and activity log and then answer very general questions about what you recorded such as number of servings .  It would be a smart match to utilize other technologies to facilitate  detailed input and output quickly, which is missing in this instance. I will continue to plug away with the program as I still feel it offers value and continue to provide you my thoughts on it as I do.  I am hoping that this too will one day become an iPhone-like app.

Cheers!  Here’s to the happy couple – Technology and Health.

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