Wearable Tracking Devices and Health Improvements in Baltimore
Wearable devices that can track heart rate, the number of steps a person takes while walking, or how long a person sleeps have become all the rage in the last few years. This trend may be a boom leading to improved health and has lead to 44 percent of American workers being interested in their employers providing an activity/fitness tracker to help them maintain their health in addition to the reimbursement for gym memberships and other incentives to live healthier lives.
Over 80 million wearable devices were sold in 2015 with half of those being fitness trackers. These types of devices are becoming so popular that a 2015 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that these devices are being considered by health care organizations, employers, insurers, and clinicians as a means to reach the less health conscious individuals via the behavioral changes that may take place as a consequence of using these electronic tools to initiate and monitor health improving activities and behaviors.
These types of behavioral changes have already been initiated by some employers with discounts on insurance premiums and gym memberships being offered by employers to encourage the use of wearable fitness trackers. It is being speculated that the information gleaned from the use of wearable fitness trackers could become a factor in determining the cost of health insurance rates for each individual in the near future.
The idea of using fitness trackers to determine the cost of health insurance rates for each individual may not be farfetched. A study released by Springbuk, a health analytics company, looked at the costs associated with people wearing these devices.
Springbuk reports that users of such devices had a $1,292 reduction in total health care costs after wearing the trackers for two years. Of particular interest is the finding that people using trackers who were classified as being "less active" compared to others in the study had a $3,543 reductions in total health care costs over the two-year period studied.
It must be remembered that the use of fitness trackers in and of itself is not a magical recipe for success. These devices simply monitor activity. It is up to the user to maintain or improve their health by pursuing healthy lifestyles. To get the most benefit of using your fitness tracker contact your local Doctor of Chiropractic who can formulate an effective plan for you to maximize your efforts to move smoothly into a healthier lifestyle.
