Talking about making lifestyle changes with a doctor has always been one of those “going through the motions” parts of health care.
Doctor says: “You need to work out more, or you’ll die horribly”
Patient: “Oh my god, I’ll work out right away!”
Patient thinks: “There’s no way he’ll know that I won’t work out”
Doctor thinks: “I wonder what sleep is like”
Maybe networked gym equipment could change all of that? In Japan, Mitsubishi, Citizen, Sharp, Hitachi and Tanita are working on developing gym equipment that keep track of your workouts over time. Different machines will communicate with each other and store data on all of your workouts. Hopefully doctors can access this data and determine whether the patients are doing their exercises and making sure they aren’t over/under-exerting themselves.
(Hat tip: Gizmodo)