Why We Should All Start Monitoring Our Own Health

Self-monitoring is another new trend that has crept into life over the last decade or so. It began with tracking steps to see how far we walk and has now exploded with the rapid progression of technology. Now we have wearable gadgets that can monitor blood sugar in diabetics, heart rate, pulse oxygen, fall risk and more. It started as something of a fad trend, but things got serious when the global pandemic hit, and we could not get to healthcare professionals unless it were an emergency. One of the advantages of self-monitoring is the ability to spot a problem before it becomes emergent, potentially saving our lives or at least minimizing the action needed to recover the issue. 

Harnessing Technology

It is possible to track so many aspects of our lives now, we have mentioned several already, but it can also be used to track dietary trends, happiness levels and more. Some feel that this is another passing phase. Still, the reality is that we should all be looking into self-monitoring and harnessing the technologies on offer to ensure we fully understand what is happening inside our bodies and minds. Not only can we improve and track our health, but the data is used by many to improve satisfaction and well-being and become more efficient humans.

Way before the pandemic, data showed that around seven out of ten adults in the US were already tracking health indicators. At the time (2013), 60% of those tracking data were watching their diet, exercise and weight, and 33% tracked health symptoms such as blood sugar, blood pressure and sleep levels. Since then, technology has leapt forward, and you can follow almost every bodily function you can think of, and there are well over 170 million tracking devices in use around the world.

Why Self-Monitoring is Important

We can see four key reasons why self-monitoring matters; it is likely there are more, but these cover the most critical factors and show why everyone should start monitoring their health or expanding to cover more functions.

  • Puts You in Control
  • Helps Physicians Decision Making
  • Motivates Action
  • Protection from Overloaded Care Systems

Puts You in Control

Many years ago, and we are talking decades here, doctors were seen as gods. We didn’t know what was going on inside our bodies or why, and we accepted that and politely took the word of a doctor as gospel. Things have changed a lot, and now we understand the importance of being in control. After all, it is your body, inhabited by you 24/7, and while we do not underestimate or refute the dedication and knowledge of doctors, we have as much right as they do to understand our own health and how we can impact it positively. This can only be done with knowledge.

If we collect our own data, we can share it with doctors, it makes much more sense this way round, and we also have the historical data that enables us to pinpoint changes that could benefit from prompt attention. Things we would have no idea about without monitoring, something as simple as blood pressure, for example. It is known as the silent killer as people often have no idea it is high but left untreated can cause heart attacks and increase stroke risk. While not seeing a doctor for years is a good thing, it can mean health concerns like this go undetected.

Helps Physicians Decision Making

Comprehensive information is also vital for decision making and seeing a physician offers a single snapshot of any body function they measure during the appointment. Using blood pressure again, it is hard to get a genuine feel for a patient with a single reading. Patients are often anxious at appointments, and this increases blood pressure. Some conditions can be identified by trends in blood pressure at different times of the day, and again this isn’t easy for a Doctor to monitor. It involves pre-planning and the patient coming back in for a longer-term blood pressure monitor, which is fitted and worn for 24 hours. Self-monitoring eliminates this step entirely and saves potentially vital time in reaching a diagnosis.

Of course, all conditions are easier to manage and make decisions about when there is comprehensive data available. Although there is some reluctance from doctors about self-diagnosing using the Internet, they know that this data is genuine and, as technology progresses, increasingly more accurate and can see the benefits of patients’ self-monitoring. As things go, doctors will also have the tools to prescribe apps and request patients monitor certain functions to help manage a condition or make a diagnosis. This means that data can also be fed back to the doctor in real-time, making it easier for them to monitor and spot when treatment plans need modification.

The fact that monitoring uses wireless technology opens so many doors for shared care and records being available instantly to anyone who needs to be added to the care plan. For older patients, it means relatives can also see what is happening and, if the patient cannot advocate for themselves, step in and seek action.

Motivates Action

The classic anecdote here is diet and weight loss. If you never get on the scales, you can easily kid yourself that you are a healthy weight and do not need to adjust your diet. However, once faced with the numbers on the screen, lying to yourself becomes much harder, and you start to think about change. Many of the things we track can be positively impacted by things like diet and exercise, cutting down on alcohol consumption or stopping habits like smoking, and by holding ourselves accountable to the data and being able to see in real-time the effects we are having on our bodies can only be a good thing. We might hate having our failings so clearly displayed, but deep down, it acts as a motivator to most people, and change will occur. In the long run, these changes can prevent things like Type 2 diabetes or smoking-related diseases, which in turn minimize the amount of hospital and physician care we need.

The benefits of self-monitoring also mean that as we make changes, to diet or exercise, for example, the data starts to reflect these positives and improves. This is significantly better for motivation than a meaningless statement like ‘being overweight causes health issues’. When we can actually see the improvements as they are happening, we begin to compete with the data, working even harder. Being just a pound short of a target tends to spark a competitive streak, and although there is no human opponent, it seems that competing with technology is just as challenging, and people become determined to hit new targets and create a better dataset.

Protection from Overloaded Care Systems

COVID-19 was a wake-up call, and we saw that during a pandemic, we were thrown out of thriving into surviving. It highlighted failings and stress points in healthcare systems all over the world, and people got scared. Emergency waiting times increased, routine healthcare ceased, and it was a concerning time to feel unwell. Self-monitoring is beneficial to both healthcare professionals and us as patients. The first step for most urgent care and emergency rooms is triage. Prioritizing care to those who need it most, but what if the issue is not immediately visible for all to see? Potentially serious cases get missed, and things can go wrong very quickly.

If we have the backup of data, triage teams can work smarter and easily see things that generally require a full workup-which takes time and only happens when you reach your place in the triage line. If we are all committed to self-monitoring, this data can be added as we walk in the door. Triage can become more innovative, even AI-operated, releasing the healthcare professionals typically making the decisions back to the treatment pool. Cases should also go down as we all learn to interpret the data we collect. We only show up in a real emergency and divert potential issues with an early physician visit for preemptive care.

The Bottom Line

In an ever-changing world, taking charge of health offers reassurance and a sense of control. The wearable devices make this form of self-monitoring easier than ever before, and if there are cases where a person cannot self-monitor, a relative or care professional can do it for them. In future, as well as medication, it is likely that doctors will be prescribing monitors and apps to ensure they can build a comprehensive and accurate picture of patient health at any given moment. So, the advice is not to wait for this to happen but to take control now and start monitoring your health without leaving your home.