You can now use your smartphone to keep track of your fitness, nutrition, diabetes, meds and more.
As you age, keeping track of your health can become a full time job. If you’re in great shape, you may have a full workout and nutrition regime that you follow. On the flip side, if health conditions are prevalent in your life, keeping track of your medications and vitals can also take time.
The good news is, gone are the days of guessing, worrying and having to do it all on paper. You’re probably already aware that if you have a smartphone or any other electronic device, you can now download a plethora of apps to help you keep on top of things and not miss a beat.
Here is a list of seven apps that can be helpful for anyone taking care of their health, and particularly for seniors.
1) Fitstar Fitness App
Older adults need more help? Says who? Heck, you’re running laps around those middle agers, at the gym.
Fitness apps aren’t only for the young, but also the young at heart. If you’re an active senior, you might already be connected into your favorite fitness app.
If you aren’t, check out one like Fitstar, or these other 25 best fitness apps as rated by Tom’s Guide. Some require a fitness tracker and others also work as a standalone app.
2) MapMyWalk Walking App
Available for both Android and iOS, this top-rated walking app allows you to track things like your workout details including the distance you traveled, your speed, pace and calories burned.
You can also use the interactive map to track your route. Save your workouts and view your walking history over time, and watch your progression.
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3) Shopwell Nutrition App
This app is all about getting the right foods at the grocery store to suit your life. It allows you to create a profile with your specific health needs, like eating right for heart disease, diabetes or osteoporosis. You then scan bar codes into the app while you’re shopping and get a rating for that food item.
Is it a good idea to buy that bread? The app will tell you, if you’re unsure.
Another great nutrition app is Fooducate. It’s similar to Shopwell, and also allows you to manually enter the nutritional information from a meal, to get a rating or suggestions for alternatives.
4) Glooko Diabetes App
Suffering from diabetes can make life more complicated, but using a great app can help to ease your worry.
Glooko is available for a subscription fee of $60/year, and it’s designed to help you manage your diabetes.
It tracks things like your meds, carb intake and activity levels. You can also integrate any other diabetes management devices that you have with it, such as an insulin pump, blood glucose meter and a continuous glucose monitoring system, and show the data to your doctor at your next visit.
It’s a great way to get all your data in one place, and track it over time.
5) Pillboxie Medication App
Forgetting to take your medication is something that happens to all of us. Even if you’ve been taking the same meds for years, a small change in routine can make it easy to forget to take what you need to, in the right place, at the right time.
Pillboxie is an app that can help fix this problem. You just have to make sure you have your smartphone around you at all times.
Program the app to remind you to take certain medications at scheduled times that you choose and set.
You can customize your medication by color and drag and drop them into “pillboxes” on screen. Like magic, the app will then alert you of when it’s time to take your pills, and which ones to take. Never forget again, (as long as you have your phone)!
6) Silver Surf Reading App
If you find your phone or other electronic device is hard to read at times, get this app. Silver Surf acts like a magnifying glass, allowing you to zoom in when you need to. It also allows you to set a higher contrast in images, making them easier to see and display larger buttons that are easier to use and navigate. A must for making your smartphone more user friendly.
Photo credits: HalfPoint/Bigstock; LightField Studios/Bigstock; rocketclips/Bigstock
