Tracking your Health with HealthKit

ByDon

There were a number of articles this week and last that talked about how Apple is experimenting with a blood glucose monitoring system that is non-invasive and works with the Apple Watch. It even showed a picture of Tim Cook testing out this new technology. As a long time diabetic, I can tell you first-hand just how welcome this breakthrough technology would be. I am really tired of finger sticks, expired test strips and the hassle that just make my health care provider nag me to test. Just imagine if it was automatic!

Well, I am really looking forward to that but in the meantime I have been experimenting with Apple’s Health App and find it to be pretty useful for a number of other health issues. To begin with, I set up my “Medical ID” which lists my medical conditions, medications that I take, my emergency contact and organ donation information. All this information is accessible from you iPhone by emergency personnel without needing your passcode.

Speaking of blood glucose readings, my meter is the iHealth iGluco meter which uses the iPhone to record data and it dumps it right into the Health App where I can monitor my numbers or send them to my nurse practitioner. Yeah, I am a gadget guy so I also have a Bluetooth scale which records my weight and transmits to Health App and a Qardio blood pressure monitor. All these devices record data on my iPhone and it is available in the Health App.

This is all very handy when you go in for medical care whether it is a check-up or some emergency. I had some time with docs and hospitals over the past month and I must have been asked 50 times for my list of medications and other information. It was great to have that all in one place on my iPhone. In some cases, I just handed my iPhone over so the information could be transferred to their systems.

But one new compatible app that I have become enamored with is SleepMatic. There are some nights when I am just not getting sleep whether it is the dogs laying on my head or my head spinning with new ideas. I was complaining to my nurse practitioner about my lack of sleep and she suggested a sleep study of some sort. That was not of interest so I started investigating sleep trackers and found SleepMatic which you can download from the app store.

The great thing about this app is that you do not have to do anything to set it up. Give it access to your Health App and wear your watch to bed and it automatically will track your sleep. It generates a report that lets you know how much you have slept, how long you had deep sleep, how long you had light sleep, how many times you woke up and how long you stayed awake. All this data is available from the app but also in your Health app.

Your “Today” screen on your iPhone’s Health App will give you this data as well as your Activity monitor data and on mine I also get weight and blood glucose, too. We are adding more and more HealthKit compatible accessories to Small Dog Electronics’ product offerings. We now offer products by Qardio and Whitings but will be adding more soon.

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