A man’s success was once measured either by the number in his bank account, or by the quality of people he surrounds himself with. However, thanks to a wide variety of apps now available, success can also be measured by the size of his bicep, his weight and body mass index, and let’s not forget his blood pressure and heart rate.
Yep, all of this and more is now available at the flick of his thumb, if he is the sort who likes to keep tabs on their everyday functions, that is.
In fact, given the prominence of apps on the market, this so-called ‘man’ is most certainly not alone, as people everywhere are increasingly measuring every aspect of themselves. And so, good health and peak physical condition can be attained by utilising a range of apps. Feeling like summer is turning your well-honed muscles to fat? Well, now it’s easier than ever before to keep an eye on the percentage of body fat you are storing around your person.
But why just stop there? How about keeping tabs on your total energy consumption and expenditure each day. Who wouldn’t want to know how much the bored picking of nose during the day can benefit us? How about the amount of juice it burns to scrunch that piece of paper into a ball and hurl a three-pointer into the waste paper basket? Surely all of this can be revealed also in some capacity.
Given the country’s love of all things technological, it comes as no surprise that Finland has established a wealth of measuring programs and services, including Suunto, Polar, First Beat, Myontec and Omegawave. Wondering how to collate all of this info with some of the bigger names in the smartphone market? Well, never fear, as Apple recently launched HealthKit, a health app and data-sharing platform that brings together info from third-party apps, and Samsung has also unveiled its Simband modular wristband for health sensors and its SAMI cloud network.
So, still not interested? Has this new trend evoked a yawn, had you rubbing your eyes and thinking about catching forty winks? Well, not to worry if you happen to doze off – a range of options are on offer to enable you to keep an eye on the quality of sleep you have, including how many times you enter into the all important REM stage. Check it all out for yourself, we all soon will be.
James O’Sullivan
