Make the most of digital health

We are living in times where technology has enabled health matters to be increasingly just a fingertip away. You can access basic health information via email, SMS, social media groups, automated interactive web tools, and via all manner of apps. All you need is your fingers and access to the internet.

The easiest things to cross-check are simple symptoms that you may be unsure of. You might be harboring an unusual ache, or a rash, or some other symptoms that just seem to linger on and on. You can simply email your regular doctor, or nurse and get some advice on what course to take. If you want to be more interactive, search for some automated medical web resources. All you will require is to complete a set of questions related to your symptoms. Your likely diagnosis and remedial measures will quickly be worked out by complex algorithms.

Be more selective with medical apps. There far too many in the market, some are completely useless. But the select few will lead you to a healthy path. You can monitor your caloric intake and physical activity, and see healthy rewards coming your way. With some specific conditions, you’ll even go as far as doing some self-testing, quickly coming up with rapid results that may include your blood sugar levels or the rhythm of your heart.

More complex symptoms are best left to the good old fashioned way of getting a physical assessment by a clinician. Yes, intelligent machines and algorithms will work out what your likely diagnosis is. But you still need a human to tie up all your signs and symptoms, and come up with a treatment plan. Don’t sit around trying one home remedy after another for symptoms that will not go away. Or sifting through one advice after another and getting nowhere. The longer you procrastinate, the more the likelihood of your disease progressing to an incurable state.

Digital health helps you bridge the gap between self-care and traditional medical care. You can do so much for yourself if you remain proactive and conscious of your health status. Equally, there is potential to do yourself some harm if you become too carefree and overly dependent on self-sourced medical remedies. There are savings to be made too, just having some explanation of your symptoms keeps you away from increasingly expensive healthcare facilities. You may even end up avoiding unnecessary medical interventions.

If not already taking advantage of all the available digital health, please take some steps to get onto it. Get yourself an affordable smart phone, or a tablet, or some other web-enabled device. Train yourself to look up health matters, you will be well onto a healthier path.