Apps to help you boost your health

This year is turning out to be a year for health and fitness software applications. A U.S. study by mobile advertising firm Flurry, now owned by Yahoo! Inc., reported a 62% increase in these kinds of apps over the first six months of 2014 vs a 33% rise in the usage of mobile apps overall.

A major benefit of using health-related apps, such as those that focus on meal-tracking and fitness activities, is that the fundamentals of creating change – using a food journal to track every bite and holding yourself accountable to your fitness goals – is made easier, says Abby Langer, dietitian and founder of Abby Langer Nutrition Consulting and Communications in Toronto: “When you journal your food with pencil and paper, you don’t get that calorie count or the charts or graphs.”

And the extra information unearthed using one of these apps is that behaviour can be altered in real time, she adds: “Most people don’t know how many calories they’re eating and how a day of indiscriminate eating, for example, will impact the rest of their week. It’s an eye-opener for people to learn exactly what they’re putting in their mouths.”

Apps that track activity levels and fitness goals are especially useful for Canadians looking to make changes to their health, says Libby Norris, founder of Inspired Energy, a corporate wellness company in Mississauga, Ont.: “A fitness app is fabulous for the 60% [of Canadians] who know they should be doing more.”

Health and fitness apps tend to fall into several categories. The first are apps that monitor and measure your activities and often include a GPS component, such as Map My Ride or Nike+ Running. Another type of app offers coaching and tips, such as Virtual Trainer or Runtastic. The third type features community and social motivation to help users reach their goals, such as Fitocracy.

Then, there are popular apps, such as MyFitnessPal and Noom, that combine all three components and also will sync with wearable devices, such as Fitbit, Jawbone and the Nike FuelBand (all three are worn around the wrist and measure steps, intensity and, in the first two cases, sleep patterns) to offer a complete picture of your diet and activity levels.

But because there are so many health and fitness apps available, it’s important that you choose wisely, Norris says. For example, not everyone wants to share their goals and achievements with friends or peers, especially if they are just starting out on their fitness journey. Also, Norris recommends reading reviews before adding apps to your device.

That’s because many of these apps are one-hit wonders, says Shira Litwack, health coach and cancer exercise specialist in Aurora, Ont. Although, she says, “everybody likes a new toy” at first, one of the drawbacks of these apps is that most users lose interest in them after a couple of weeks.

An exception to that, says Litwack, are apps linked to wearable devices because they require no real effort on the part of the user and leave little room for interpretation. Most of us overestimate how much activity we do and the healthiness of our food choices. Litwack encourages people to choose apps that allow for some reflection, as making connections between your mood and eating or fitness is the only way to expect any real change.

Langer cautions against becoming too dependent on these apps: “If you have a certain type of personality, it can become too intense.” Anyone with an eating or exercise disorder should avoid using these apps, but even typical Type A personalities might find that these apps bring out unhealthy compulsions.

Langer  offers several warning signs to flag overdependence on an app: food guilt, focusing too much on calories at the expense of nutrition or exercising just to burn calories.