Heart Healthy Advice to your mobile device
We do everything on our phones, expect what they were originally meant for, talk. Texting is quick and easy but could improve your health. A study, posted in Journal of American Medical Association, looked to see if semi-personal text messages could reduce LDL, BMI, blood pressure and even smoking status. The participants in the intervention group received 4 texts a week from an automated service and the other group received regular care. In the end, the intervention group, saw a reduction in BMI, blood pressure, LDL and even smoking status. Although this was a fairly small study of 700 participants for only 6 months, I think there is some reliability.
Text messages are seen as personal and a useful form of communication. Texts also allow an automated service to send out messages to a large number of people. It shows increased interest in the patient’s health and can hold them more accountable. I think an additional benefit would be an option to respond to the text messages and get feed back about food choices, exercise ideas and possible list of resources in the community for additional resources.
Healthcare will be forced to keep up with digital communication age and I think texting can make health care information more accessible and convenient for everyone with a cell phone.
Chow, C, et al. Effect of Lifestyle-Focused Text Messaging on Risk Factor Modification in Patients With Coronary Heart Disease. JAMA. 2015.
