The Future for Better Health

Obesity has increased over the years in children and adults, yet we’ve done nothing to improve on our health. We as people especially Americans have gotten fatter and with this increase in weight we will have an increase in health issues. For the past six weeks I’ve researched childhood obesity which has led me down the rabbit hole of regular obesity forcing me into figuring out a solution that can cover a large audience of people.

My Research

During those six weeks I was driven to finding out a way to get kids to eat healthier and get more physical activity. My approach to this originally took me down the same road everyone else goes down. Basic research that leads to a basic solution that only puts a bandage over the bigger problem. So, why don’t we create an app that gets not only kids, but adults active as well.

The most important part of my research was an interview I did with one of my ex-classmates who happens to be a mom. This interview was conducted back when my first idea was to combat childhood obesity with some form of scare tactic. My ex-classmate who we will call Amy for this, had told me her thoughts on childhood obesity. She told me that her son manages to stay active regularly and that she does her best to make sure he’s eating right. However, it wasn’t until the end of the interview that I asked her her thoughts on a possible solution. She said having some small changes in your life like going for some nature hunts or finding a heart shape rock. This led to me thinking up an app.

I conducted a survey where I reached out to people in my social circles to get them and people they know to take part in my survey. Sadly I did not reach the desired number of survey takers or the desired age group I was hoping for. I was only capable of getting 61 people with 21 of them being of the age group 41 and up.

In question four of my survey I asked people to name three apps that they use the most. As you can see in the image above Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Youtube rein supreme.

In question seven of my survey I asked people what they enjoy most in an app. It’s easy to see that most people enjoy an app that’s easy to use, connects you with friends/family, and is entertaining.

Through these two questions I was able to gather that an app that most people would use would have to be something that is familiar to most other apps. This app would have to be easy to use, but different enough so that it stands among others.

My survey consisted mostly of women which does skew the data in a certain direction, but it does give me a good idea on what both genders are thinking more about. In question eight of my survey I took notice that a majority of women believe that healthy food is more important than physical activity, while men seem to believe the opposite. This leads me to believe that women would prefer a healthy diet over a training regiment. Of course men would be on the opposite side of this. This research concludes that men would enjoy an app that has some form of physical activity to it, while women would enjoy an app that has dietary plans. Of course in the end I’m sure both could benefit from a mix of a healthy diet and physical activity.

Solution

Around 3.6 billion people worldwide have smartphones (statista). If you’ve been outside your house in these past few years you’d see that almost everyone has a smartphone including kids. Everyone always finds themselves using their phone constantly for anything from texting people to posting something on social media. I bring this up because I believe an app would be the best way to get people active and eating healthy.

JumP… Hopefully you clicked on the JumP link and saw my very crude rough draft of what the app could look like. Sadly I’m not tech savvy enough to put together a mock app, but that is my basic outline. I made sure to make the app basic enough that anyone could use it, but complex enough that it can hold many features. As you spend some time looking at my layout you’ll see that it looks similar to other apps you might use.

What I believe to be the pride of the app is the daily/weekly/monthly challenges. These challenges will be something that help people feel like they need to accomplish something. A big part of keeping healthy in general is motivation. So, if people have some form of motivation with a miniscule reward in the app then maybe they’ll get more active and eat healthier. These activities won’t be super strenuous on people or very time consuming. Your monthly challenges will be something akin to achieving a million steps in a month. Your weekly challenges will be something like go for an afternoon jog or send in a picture of a hearty tomato soup that your eating. Daily tasks will most likely be mundane things like record yourself doing ten push-ups and snacking on some carrots.

Conclusion

An app would be the best way to reach a large audience of people especially when more and more people are getting smartphones. With people constantly on their phones, a good way to get people active and eating right would be an app that motivates you to do so. An app that isn’t loaded with ads, but provides a community of people to help motivate each other. Something that can make mundane tasks seem exciting. Something that makes a walk around the block appear like some kind of quest.

In the time that I was working on this someone created an app called, “Cultivate Long-term fitness”. I’ve checked out the app and it seems like Instagram, but for people motivating and helping each other live healthier. Whether or not it works will depend on time. As for my app I’m sure it’s something that could be made achievable with the right resources.

If you’re reading this and think my idea is good then feel free to make something of it. I myself neither have the time or resources to make such an app, but if you do and you think you make it… Then by all means have at it.

Links

Link to survey: Fighting Obesity

Link to spreadsheet: Results

My Idea: JumP