The Practice team were intrigued by last night’s BBC’s Horizon documentary, Monitor Me, which examined the growing trend in app usage to track a number of health values, from blood pressure to sleep patterns. The programme also showed how certain apps can even help us forecast potential illness before any symptoms are exhibited. Taking this into account, could these remarkable apps be key to helping all of us live longer and healthier lives?

Instead of relying on prescription pills and drugs before accurate diagnosis, many in the medical industry are turning to smart phone apps for their ability to offer precise information on the status of a person’s health. This means the ability to address deficiencies and problems before they arise, something that’s been described as a “tipping point” throughout the scientific community. Aside from downloadable health and fitness apps, (of which there are approximately over 15,000 available), in just a couple of year’s time it’s predicted that around 170 million people will be using wireless health gadgets worldwide.

The Practice team can’t get enough of our trusty pedometers and MyFitnessPal apps if for nothing more than satisfying our curiousity! But which stand out for their revolutionary technological features? One of our top picks has got to be heart rate monitoring app, Cardiio, which simply requires you to touch your iPhone camera to record your pulse after it takes a picture of your face. The app’s sensors can pick up even the slightest changes in your skin’s colour to track differences in heart rate over that certain time. It’s interesting to use for witnessing trends, particularly if you want to see how your resting heart rate improves over several weeks, for instance. We also particularly like weight-loss app Retrofit, which incorporates one-to-one Skype sessions with real, live fitness instructors to inspire users to reach their goals; from consultations with wellness experts, dieticians and behaviour coaches, the app has everything a weight-watcher needs to help make maintaining focus a little easier. Finally, if you’re anything like us, you’ll understand it’s important to mix up your workout entertainment when at the gym or on a run. That’s why we love Zombies Run, an app which mixes a running game with your own playlist, (kind of like a live Temple Run!) The game features zombies that chase you as you run, and the faster and harder you work out, the longer you can stay away from being caught- surely the best motivational tool?!

But can health monitoring through technology result in hypochondria? And can there be such a thing as too much information? Monitor Me caught up with one of the most “measured” people on earth, top Computer Scientist, Professor Larry Smarr, who tracks every single piece of data about his body on a daily basis, including certain obscure vitamin levels, blood, urine, saliva, and even his stools which he regularly sends for laboratory analysis. Initially this all reads as a case of acute paranoia, but if it hadn’t been for Smarr’s vigilant watch, he wouldn’t have discovered that he in fact had Crohn’s disease, a serious intestinal disorder and something that could have been potentially fatal if left untreated.

Do you use apps to track your health and wellbeing? And which (if any) have helped you change your lifestyle for the better? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this growing trend, so please tweet your comments to us @PracticeDigital and share them on our Facebook page.