Making Chronic Diseases More Manageable
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We’ve been talking a lot about chronic diseases and how they can not only affect the individual, but the whole family. A chronic disease is a disease that persists for a long time. Chronic diseases generally cannot be prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, nor do they just disappear (Medicine Net). Due to the nature of chronic diseases and their persistence, learning to manage them is key to living with them.
Asthma
What?
Asthma is a long-term condition that affects your airways – the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs (Asthma UK)
Who?
Speaking globally, there is an estimated 339 million people who suffer from asthma, according to a 2018 report.
In Ireland, 470,000 people have asthma. Asthma affects people of all ages, from the very young to the elderly, meaning managing the chronic illness needs to be easy.
How?
Digital health technology is making the task of managing and monitoring asthma so much easier. With a device like a Peak Flow Monitor you can simply record your or your family’s breathing level. By breathing into the device as normal, a reading is sent to your phone, allowing you to see an overview of your breathing throughout the weeks, as well as enabling you to track and monitor your breathing. This will allow you to adjust your lifestyle if needs be.
Diabetes
What?
Diabetes is a disorder caused by insufficient or lack of production of insulin (a hormone) by the pancreas (a gland in the abdomen) (Irish Health). There are two types of diabetes, Type One and Type Two.
Who?
422 million people worldwide have diabetes (WHO). Whilst once believed to affect adults and older people, diabetes, according to dlife.com, is becoming prevalent in children, teens, and young adults.
How?
Diabetes Type One and Type Two are on the rise according to a report by the National Institutes of Health. The Irish Times reported an ‘alarming rise in number at risk’ of Type Two diabetes. So if you or a family member is diagnosed with the disease, how can you monitor and manage it in an easy and convenient way?
The traditional method of keeping an eye on blood sugar levels involves pricking your finger to produce a spot of blood which is read by a blood-glucose meter. New advancements mean that instead of pricking your finger and monitoring your glucose levels manually, you can now record your health data right from the palm of your hand, on your smartphone or tablet.
This means you can keep a clear record of you or a family member’s glucose levels, allowing you to track and monitor any changes effortlessly.
Cardiovascular Disease
What?
CVD includes all diseases of the heart and circulation but most commonly it refers to coronary heart disease (angina, heart attack), stroke and other blood vessel diseases (Irish Heart Foundation).
Who?
Both men and women can be affected by heart disease. CVD is responsible for 31% of deaths worldwide (WHO).
How?
The risk of heart disease increases as you grow older (Kaiser Permanente). With this in mind, it’s important to be able to be proactive in caring for yourself or a family member who either has heart disease, or is high risk. This can be done by using a blood pressure machine, otherwise known as a sphygmomanometer, that hooks up to your phone via bluetooth allowing you to monitor and track blood pressure over a long period of time.
Obesity
What?
Obesity is defined by the WHO as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. Being overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Who?
650 million people worldwide are obese. A report by the World Health Organisation found 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016. Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016.
How?
If you feel you or your family members are overweight or obese, always speak to a doctor before making any major lifestyle adjustments. A medical professional will be able to guide you through the weight loss process in a healthy and manageable way.
When it comes to monitoring your weight, new innovative digital tech such as a digital scale can be very helpful! The scale allows you to track your and your family’s weight and BMI over a period of time through your phone or tablet. This allows you to not only see your progress, but analyse what works and what doesn’t when it comes to changing your lifestyle and preventing or overcoming obesity.
Photo by Esther Ann on Unsplash
Dementia
What?
Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Memory loss is an example. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia (Alzheimer's Association).
Who?
Whilst often associated with the elderly, dementia is not a ‘normal’ part of the aging process. Currently, around 50 million people worldwide have dementia. This number grows by about 10 million every year (World Health Organisation).
How?
Whilst difficult to manage if you don’t live with the family member affected, it is possible. New advances in technology mean managing dementia has become that bit easier. Like any chronic illness, dementia can come with a lot of medication. Because the disease affects the memory, remembering to take medication at certain times throughout the day can pose a difficult task for those suffering with the disease. However, with the likes of a digital pill dispenser, taking medication becomes a lot easier. By automating the process of taking medication, you can rest assured that your family member(s) is taking their medication everyday.
Febrility
What?
Febrility is known as having a fever, or high temperature. When we talk about febrility we often mean it in the context of febrile infants.
Who?
Whilst everyone will more than likely experience a fever to some extent throughout their lifetime, febrile infants can be at risk to febrile seizures, a seizure brought on by a high fever in infants. Febrile seizures can happen in kids from 6 months to 5 years old but they're most common in toddlers 12–18 months old (KidsHealth.org).
How?
Should your infant develop a fever it is super important to monitor it in order to prepare for the possibility of a febrile seizure.
Getting an accurate temperature reading from an infant can be a difficult task. However, with a digital thermometer, you can get a clear accurate reading without any invasive measures. This is done by scanning the temporal artery, rather than being inserted.
You get a reading straight away, and the thermometer will tell you if the temperature is high, normal or low via colour coded LED’s.
Syncing with your device, you can record each family member’s temperature under their own profile.
Hypertension
What?
High blood pressure (HBP or hypertension) is when your blood pressure, the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your blood vessels, is consistently too high (heart.org)
Who?
In 2015, 1 in 4 men had hypertension, whilst 1 in 5 women suffered from the disease. (The World Health Organisation). Irish Heart Foundation says “the normal level of blood pressure is usually about 120 (systolic) over 80 (diastolic).”
How?
When it comes to hypertension, monitoring is key to managing. New innovative technology in the form of a sphygmomanometer (a blood pressure machine), means you can monitor and track your blood pressure on your tablet or smartphone; all from the comfort of your own home.