New Mobile Diary Fights Flab
By Sarah Gillham
Here’s an invention that couldn’t have come at a more welcome time for many of us. The excitement of Christmas indulgence seems but a distance memory; until we catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror: that ghastly image, bulging at the seams, shining back!
Help is at hand, however, thanks to a Finnish research group who have developed the Wellness Diary – a brand new personal health diary that you can download to your mobile phone.
And it comes at an opportune time; experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the public’s health due to the ever-increasing prevalence of obesity, diabetes and other health-related problems caused by poor diet and a lack of exercise.
The diary allows you to integrate monitoring their weight, blood pressure, exercise and eating habits into existing daily routines, with the added benefit of the privacy and simplicity of their mobile phone.
Users may select an item to be monitored from a main menu depending on their personal improvement needs. These can be anything from diet, sleep, stress and other long-term health risk problems. Encouraging feedback is then given which can then be shared with a physician or personal trainer if desired.
Unlike most Christmas presents, initial user tests have proven optimistic, as volunteers have continued to use the diary even after loss of novelty value. The team, aided by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the University of Tampere and Nokia Research Centre, reckon that the success is due to the diary using a combination of self-observation and feedback.
I know a few people whose presents I could now cross off this list for next year, however I’m not certain whether I would receive an appreciative ‘thank you’ or a humiliated punch in the face!
Editor's note: we're fairly sure Sarah's not sponsored by Nokia, but can't be sure; she has been suspiciously nice about them. Click here as a first port of call if you want to download the Wellness Diary.
Help is at hand, however, thanks to a Finnish research group who have developed the Wellness Diary – a brand new personal health diary that you can download to your mobile phone.
And it comes at an opportune time; experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the public’s health due to the ever-increasing prevalence of obesity, diabetes and other health-related problems caused by poor diet and a lack of exercise.
The diary allows you to integrate monitoring their weight, blood pressure, exercise and eating habits into existing daily routines, with the added benefit of the privacy and simplicity of their mobile phone.
Users may select an item to be monitored from a main menu depending on their personal improvement needs. These can be anything from diet, sleep, stress and other long-term health risk problems. Encouraging feedback is then given which can then be shared with a physician or personal trainer if desired.Unlike most Christmas presents, initial user tests have proven optimistic, as volunteers have continued to use the diary even after loss of novelty value. The team, aided by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the University of Tampere and Nokia Research Centre, reckon that the success is due to the diary using a combination of self-observation and feedback.
I know a few people whose presents I could now cross off this list for next year, however I’m not certain whether I would receive an appreciative ‘thank you’ or a humiliated punch in the face!
Editor's note: we're fairly sure Sarah's not sponsored by Nokia, but can't be sure; she has been suspiciously nice about them. Click here as a first port of call if you want to download the Wellness Diary.
Image: Nokia, with a little bit of help of Null-tamper
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