Why You Should Track Your Health

Health Education Promotes Healthier Behavior

What exactly is health education, you’re wondering? Health education promotes health, wellness, and disease prevention through voluntary behavioral changes – such as adopting a healthy diet, engaging in daily physical activity, managing stress effectively, and establishing healthy sleep habits. By focusing on prevention and behavior changes, it dramatically cuts down on the time and money spent on medical treatment and creates healthier individuals and communities.

According to the CDC, half of all Americans have at least one of the three key risk factors for heart disease and this is the leading cause of death in the United States. The average American engages in “unhealthy behaviors that put them at high risk for heart disease and cancer,” said Dr. Spring, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a statement.

With all the health advice available to us these days, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. And, even if we’re making these changes, how will we know whether they’re working?

Tracking Healthy Habits 

Luckily, we live in an era where tracking behavior and measuring results are easy. Modern health technology allows us to easily set specific yet attainable goals. Want to clean up your diet? There are apps that allow you to make sure you’re eating at least 10 servings of vegetables, or drinking at least 64 oz of water each day. Need to get off the couch? There is an abundance of smartwatches and fitness bands that remind you to walk at least 10,000 steps every day. Need to improve your sleep quality? Yup, you’ve guessed it – there are apps and devices for that, too.

Improvements In Health Reinforces Healthy Habits

To understand whether these behavioral changes are paying off, you can track different health metrics to understand what’s happening inside your body, letting you know whether your efforts are working out for better or for worse. Taking consistent measurements with your health tracker will help you see how your health is improving over time; and by making healthier lifestyle choices with time, your resting heart rate should decrease, pulse wave velocity should fall, and weight should lower — just to name a few.

Seeing improvements in your health vitals? Keep doing what you’re doing. Seeing negative impacts? Take this as a sign to make some changes.

How techology helps

There are countless stories of individuals who’ve been able to dramatically improve their health by tracking their behaviors and health vitals. Take Ari Meisel, for example. By tracking everything from diet to exercise regimens, as well as their effects on his body, he’s been able to rid himself of any signs of Crohn’s disease, an incurable disease he was diagnosed with years ago.

His story is not a unique one. Many of us are learning a lot about ourselves by analyzing and sharing our own health data – which for years has been limited to being available only at the doctor’s office.

Today’s health and behavioral trackers are accurate and reliable, empowering us to take better care of our health. With more data about what we’re doing and how it’s affecting our bodies, it makes it much easier to anticipate when something might break down. Now more than ever, we’re armed with more insights about our health – allowing us to make better, more informed decisions every day, improving each and every one of our health outcomes.

Can I reverse high blood pressure?

While many risk factors for high blood pressure are reversible. Adjusting to a healthy diet like DASH diet or increasing activity level can control high blood pressure.

However, when you search “reverse high blood pressure” in Google, it’s unlikely that you will see articles telling you that high blood pressure is reversible since factors contributing to high blood pressure are too complicated. A large portion of high blood pressure is called “essential hypertension” or “primary hypertension” that the exact cause has never been found.

Most of the time, managing high blood pressure is a life-long commitment.

It may sound daunting and frustrating, but technology like Bluetooth blood pressure monitors like MOCAArm can definitely make it easier.

When can I stop taking blood pressure medication?

One should never stop taking blood pressure medication by themselves.  Withdrawing some blood pressure medications like Beta-blocker can cause a spike in blood pressure, which is very dangerous for people with underlying heart disease.

If you have lost weight and maintain a healthy diet for a long time, you can discuss with your doctor to see if you can reduce the dose of medication or stop taking medication for a short-term trial. But always remember, never stop taking blood pressure medication without the doctor’s consent and evaluation.