Technology

Wellness Through Connectivity

The holy grail of wellness continues to be sought through social connectivity.

It’s no secret that a critical success factor in wellness programs of any substance from weight loss to smoking cessation to fitness has been in the power of groups. Group aerobics programs, community outreach, and weekly Weight Watchers meetings not only offer economies of scale for the organizers but have the benefit of connecting people with a common goal to a guidance and support system that is the first line of defense against lapses in willpower and judgement. The advent of social networking has expanded the frontier of the effectiveness of community support networks.

Additionally, competition has also been long used as the incentive for personal improvement. Sport by it’s nature is the challenge of individuals engaging in a comparison of performance between one another to determine the victor. To win, the participants attempt to out-train one another and gain insight into the methods and routines of their competition.

Each of these basic natures of our being are being employed through technology today to propel technology solutions for wellness.

Ryan Norris is the Director of Technology at Medullan. He has a background working with physicians and clients in the eHealth space in developing and delivering solutions that better interconnect providers and create more informed patients through extensible service architectures and highly-usable interfaces.