However, I’m a great fan of walking and this app is one of my favourites. The expert: Dr Bernadette Carr, medical director at VHI, Expert pick: EveryTrail (“When it comes to looking after our health, I always recommend that people visit their GP for the best medical advice as opposed to downloading information from a virtual source. My friend’s favourite feature was the savings calculator, which showed that he could save €5,000 a year if he refrained from smoking.Īlas, he is still on the cigarettes: proof positive that an app can only do so much. There is even a panic button for when your cravings hit fever pitch (warnings such as ‘Are you worried about your sex appeal?’ pop up when deployed). Road test: As a non-smoker, I had a friend, who is anxious to quit, road-test the app.Īfter a round of questions (example: ‘How long after you get up do you have your first cigarette of the day?’), the app provides a dashboard of tips, tricks and devices, from an advice panel to a number of fact sheets about quitting smoking.
We particularly recommend the app produced recently by the Irish Cancer Society, as it encourages, and advises, young people on quitting,” says an ASH spokesperson. The expert: Ash Ireland, Expert pick: The iCoach, found at “Any device, or mechanism, which can help young people or adults to quit is of value. The app, however, gets two thumbs up from me. The activity side of the app is far more interesting, and went some way towards encouraging me to do some exercise (in a bid to bring the ‘calories burned’ number up).Īlas, the app hammers home just how much exercise is needed to burn calories - 15 minutes of stair-climbing burns just 125 calories. When inputting foods, there is an American bias, meaning that Irish users might not end up with quite an accurate tally of their calorie intake (Tayto crisps, for instance, were mysteriously missing from the list of foods).
Road test: On starting my account, I was forced to input my weight and activity level (quite the wake-up call). “It is the best way to keep yourself accountable, and motivated, when you are actively going in there, daily, to log in your workouts and nutrition.” “I recommend FitDay to all my clients to help them lose weight and track their eating habits. The expert: Personal trainer Karl Henry, Expert pick:. It won’t quite achieve the goal for you, but it’s a big help. Once you get used to the site, you can ‘cheer’ other users on and, crucially, get others to cheer on your own efforts. Once you have managed each hurdle, you get to tick off your goal and - cue serious gratification - move it into the list of tasks you ‘have done’. The app helped me break this down to smaller, manageable goals (‘write five pages before tomorrow’). In one instance, my goal was ‘write a script’. The app charts your progress, encourages you to write an entry for each goal, and takes a picture to help with ‘visualising’ your goal.
Road test: I’m a big fan of lists, so seeing your goals in black-and-white certainly helps to make them more real. If you have a goal to pay off credit-card debt, getting a reminder at 5pm on a late shopping night, or 9am Saturday morning, can make the difference between paying down that debt or building up that unwearable shoe collection.”
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