Irish Life has launched MyLife, the first healthcare app in Ireland that empowers all people to monitor and improve their own health Score.
Irish Life said the app measures overall health, encouraging an individual to make positive lifestyle changes to improve their Health Score.
MyLife, available to everyone in Ireland, gives consumers the knowledge to take control of their own health.
MyLife encourages users to select and set a fitness, nutrition or lifestyle goal each month. People will earn points when they engage with the app and complete their goal, track their exercise, get sufficient sleep, answer the Health Coach’s questions and track their weight.”
Irish Life customers can redeem these points in the online Reward Store and premium customers can claim rewards.
The company said research by Behaviours & Attitudes into the health of the Irish population, based on preliminary information from the MyLife app, highlighted some worrying trends:
- 13% of all adults take no exercise at all per week
- 15% say they don’t do anything physical during the working day
- Only 34% do more than 3.5 hours exercise a week
- 45% have suffered from a serious medical condition in the past 12 months, while 21% have suffered stress or depression
- Younger adults are the most unwell of all – particularly in their experience of seasonal illness and mental stress and depression
- Further research indicates that smoking is still a major concern with 20% of the adult population smoking an average of 12 cigarettes a day
Commenting on the launch of MyLife, Prof. Niall Moyna, of the Centre for Preventive Medicine at Dublin City University said “We are living in an era of healthcare where the role of the patient has evolved, empowered by the rapid adoption of digital health technologies. It’s well known that individuals who take charge of their health and actively participate in decisions about healthcare delivery have better health outcomes. MyLife provides individuals with the opportunity to take a more proactive and preventive approach to healthcare, enabling people to understand potential health risks and adjust their lifestyle accordingly before problems arise.
“Many medical conditions result from poor lifestyle choices including inactivity, smoking, inadequate sleep and excessive alcohol consumption. The unique MyLife app monitors lifestyle changes such as increasing physical activity, to show the individual just how impactful these small actions are on their Health Score. Empowering and enabling the individual creates an engaged patient which is a positive move in the right direction. In short – those who think they have no time for exercise will sooner or later have to find the time for illness.”
Speaking about the launch of the new MyLife app, David Harney, CEO Irish Life said “At Irish Life we are passionate about helping people build a better future. We are delighted to be the first Irish Insurance company bringing this level of digital innovation to market. MyLife gives everyone, not only Irish Life customers, everything that they need to better understand their own personal health with a view to improving it.”
The MyLife app is free to download on the App Store or the Google Play Store for all Apple and Android devices. The app has been developed in partnership with dacadoo.
