~ The engaged patient is considered the blockbuster drug of the century ~
(Prof Niall Moyna, Centre for Preventive Medicine at Dublin City University)
- The new innovative MyLife app empowers the individual to monitor and become an active participant in his/her own healthcare*
- MyLife gives you an overall Health Score** based on physical, emotional and lifestyle factors, and is underpinned by rigorous scientific research
- The unique app is the first in Ireland to empower people to have a personalised Health Score and provides instantaneous health updates
- MyLife app is freely available for everyone in Ireland to download
- Irish Life is the first and only Irish insurance company to reward customers for improving their own health
Irish Life has announced the launch of MyLife, the first healthcare app in Ireland that empowers all people to monitor and improve their own Health Score. The innovative 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 great rewards.***
Research by Behaviours & Attitudes into the health of the Irish population, based on preliminary information from the MyLife app, highlights 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% of us 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.”
He continued, “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.
#EmbraceChange #MyLifeApp #KnowYourScore
JULIEN BEHAL PHOTOGRAPHY.
*Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Defined by the World Health Organization.
**A person’s Health Score is based on three key areas, physical, emotional and lifestyle factors and is a number from 1-1000 with 1000 being the highest possible Health Score. The more information provided by the individual, the more accurate their personalised Health Score will be.
***Rewards include discounted Fitbits, cinema tickets and gift vouchers. MyLife users also have access to an exclusive Health Blog with tailored content from independent wellness experts.
About MyLife App
MyLife, Created in collaboration with dacadoo, an award winning Swiss based health engagement platform company, and Loylogic, a worldwide rewards aggregator,MyLife is the first app of its kind in the Irish market.
Designed to encourage consumers to embrace healthier lifestyles the aim of MyLife is to motivate and support people to turn good intentions into actions. With the help of a personalised AI Health Coach to engage and keep users motivated, the MyLife app will give consumers a better understanding about their health, so they can easily identify ways to improve it. These improvements are easy to monitor through the MyLife Health Score which indicates overall health and wellbeing. In a world where we are overloaded with health data, the MyLife Health Score is a scientific way to measure individual health in one easy to understand single metric taking into account information relating to the body, mind and lifestyle:
BODY 40%
It measures your body values in terms of gender, age, height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and blood values as well as several other metrics, measuring your health in real-time.
MIND 15%
Our quality of life questions will help to quantify the mental wellbeing of users and helps users understand how their emotional wellbeing impacts their overall health.
LIFESTYLE 45%
You can track exercise, nutrition, stress, sleep habits, all of which will influence your ongoing Health Score. MyLife can be linked with your phones existing health app and to all major wearables.
Health Score
The MyLife app calculates your Health Score, a scientifically calculated number from 1 (low) to 1000 (high). The more information you enter, the more accurate your Health Score will be.
There are plenty of ways that you can improve your Health Score, such as tracking your exercise and becoming more active, eating healthily when you can and getting sufficient sleep.
Tracking Activity
If you don’t use a fitness device or app you can add the exercise you do manually directly to the MyLife app. There is a wide range of predefined fitness activities to select from, making it easy for you to add your workouts.
If you use a fitness device or app in most cases you can sync it with the MyLife app so that your activity is automatically added. MyLife connects directly with most popular fitness devices and apps.
Challenges
You can either join an existing challenge or set up a challenge yourself. There are a variety of challenges on the MyLife app, such as who can take the most steps in a week or who can cycle the most.
Goals
Every month, MyLife will encourage you to select and set a fitness, nutrition or lifestyle goal for that month.
Rewards
With MyLife, you can earn points for:
- Tracking your exercise
2. Getting sufficient sleep
3. Achieving your monthly goal (activity, nutrition or lifestyle)
4. Answering the Health Coach’s questions
5. Tracking your weight
If you’re an Irish Life customer, you can redeem these points in the online Reward Store to get rewarded.