Changes in technology have become a blessing and curse these
days. While advancements have helped us to discover new cures, new paths and
even new social standards, we also have opened the door to new scams, new
threats and even new societal dangers. But, when it comes to innovations in
areas such as genetics, telemedicine and pharmacology, there are more positive
than negatives! Keep reading below to find out how they may change your life.
If you’re an aging senior, technology may go over your head
a bit. It may make you feel out of the loop and unable to benefit from some of
the positives of our new gadget world. However, there are some technological
advances that are simple to use and that can have huge benefits on your life.
Take Life Alert Protection, for instance. Simply by slipping their lightweight,
waterproof emergency pendant around your neck or wrist, you can harness the power
of 24/7 personal protection. Should you encounter a home invasion, a home fire
or even a serious fall, you can easily push the button on your pendant and
summon an emergency medical help fast. Not only does the simple to use
emergency medical device make living independently safer, Life Alert’s 24/7
service make it a no brainer. Enjoy one of the many positive benefits of
technology by getting Life Alert Protection today!
Life Alert offers many cutting edge lifesaving services that
may make you the high-tech guru in your neighborhood. For more tech-health info, take a peek below
at a few great advances in the science and tech worlds that could have major
impacts on your health and well-being.
Real Simple[1]
is here to share some good news!
1.
You can
talk to a doctor online or IRL 24/7: If you’ve ever had a child come
down with strep on Thanksgiving Day, you’ll be singing hallelujah for the rise
of 24-hour medicine. In the last decade, visits to urgent care centers have
increased by more than 1,000 percent. For times when you’re too sick to leave
the house but not quite sick enough for the ER, telemedicine apps, such as
Doctor On Demand and MDLive (free; iOS and Android), give you face time with a
physician any hour of the day or night; you pay about $50 to $75 for a
15-minute appointment. And the digital clinic Maven specializes in women’s
health at affordable prices. You can talk to a lactation consultant, doula,
midwife, therapist, or physician, with prices for some practitioners starting
at $18 for a 10-minute appointment. “Those options are great as long as there’s
good coordination with your regular physician, who can keep track of patterns
over the long run,” says Michael Munger, MD, president of the American Academy
of Family Physicians. This trend has also pushed traditional practices to
increase their hours: “We understand that you don’t get sick just from 9 to 5
on weekdays, so about 80 percent of family physicians now have same-day
appointments, and half have extended office hours,” says Munger.
2.
An
“artificial pancreas” will one day make life easier for people with diabetes:
Millions of people with type 1 diabetes have to deal with syringes and insulin
pumps every day, in a constant effort to keep their blood glucose levels
steady. What if they didn’t have to think about the process at all? Scientists
are racing to achieve the ultimate goal of an “artificial pancreas,” a system
in which a glucose monitor sends information directly to a pump, which then
releases the exact amount of insulin needed—no human effort required. While
we’re not quite there yet, the FDA recently approved a hybrid closed-loop
system, in which a glucose monitor and an insulin pump, both inserted under the
skin, communicate with each other: a step in the right direction. “With this
system, the patient is still responsible for taking insulin with food,”
explains Irl B. Hirsch, MD, an endocrinologist at UW Medicine in Seattle and a
spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association. “But between meals, the
electronic sensor talks to the pump and gives enough insulin to keep blood
sugars at a steady level.” The biggest benefit is that the system keeps blood
sugar levels steady between meals, says Hirsch. “The system really does
minimize hypoglycemia, especially while people are asleep, and for many people
that is revolutionary,” he says. So far, the system has only been tested on
patients with type 1 diabetes, but in the future, the 4.5 million Americans
with type 2 diabetes who take insulin may benefit from this breakthrough as
well.
3.
Health
stigmas are melting away: Thanks to the confessional nature of
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, we have become a society that seems to share
everything all the time. While this can sometimes cross over into TMI, it also
means the walls of shame are crumbling around many previously taboo topics,
such as mental health, sexual violence, and infertility. The result? Those who
can relate feel less alone and may learn about resources they otherwise
wouldn’t have been aware of. Consider this: When Prince Harry spoke out about
his battles with depression after his mother’s death, phone calls to mental
health clinics jumped. When celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen and Adele talk
about their postpartum depression, new moms who are up crying in the middle of the
night can feel less hopeless. “We see people who are larger than life and seem
to have it all together, and you go,”Dang!“ says Katrina Gay, a spokesperson
for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). “When they share their
stories and experiences, it helps eliminate the stigma and the shame.” Gay adds
that whenever a celebrity posts about mental health struggles, she sees an
increase in calls to the NAMI HelpLine. “It’s so relatable. It gives people
permission to say, “I don’t have to pretend. I don’t have to put on a facade. It
encourages them to seek help.” If you’re in crisis, take NAMI’s lead and call
800-273-8255.
4.
Your
mammogram just got a little less squishy: In one of the greatest
developments for boob comfort since the invention of the sports bra, you can
now have your mammogram performed by a machine that cradles your breast on a
curved surface instead of squishing it between two flat panels. Hologic’s new
SmartCurve system is used with its regular 3-D mammogram machines (3-D mammos
are especially recommended for the 50 percent of women with dense breasts). It
makes the process a whole lot more comfortable. “The pressure is felt evenly
across the breast, so you don’t get those pinch points,” says Tracy Accardi,
global vice president of research and development for Hologic, who points out
that many women avoid their recommended screenings because they associate
mammograms with pain. More good news: The curved system doesn’t cost patients
any more than the flat kind and should be covered by most insurance plans. To
find a facility, go to genius3dnearme.com.
5.
There’s
finally a treatment just for migraines: It’s hard to believe, but until
this year, there was no medication specifically for preventing migraines, the
debilitating headaches that affect 39 million Americans, most of them women.
The development of triptans in the 1990s was a huge achievement, but triptans
are taken after a headache hits. To try to prevent migraines, doctors had to
choose from an imperfect selection of blood pressure medications,
antidepressants, and antiseizure meds. “These all have side effects, and we
were treating otherwise healthy young women with medications they possibly
couldn’t tolerate,” says Merle Diamond, MD, president of Diamond Headache
Clinic in Chicago. The last big breakthrough was in 2010, when Botox injections
were approved for chronic migraine. Though it has been very successful, Diamond
says the treatment—typically 31 small injections in the forehead and neck every
three months—is only approved for patients with headaches on 15 or more days
per month. Then, this past spring, a game-changing new drug entered the market:
Aimovig, which migraineurs inject once a month. The drug blocks a neuropeptide
called CGRP and has been shown to reduce the number of migraines by one or two
a month. The only known side effect is injection-site soreness. Three similar
drugs may be released by the end of this year. “We are super excited about
this,” says Diamond. “Not every patient will respond, but it is a beacon of
light for many.”
6.
Less-invasive
tests are on the horizon: Rather than undergoing a biopsy, you may soon
be able to get screened for cancer via a simple blood test. Researchers at
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore are developing a new test,
called CancerSEEK, that screens for eight common types of cancer, including
breast, lung, and colorectal. What’s most amazing is that, for five of the
cancers it screens for, there is no other screening test available yet. A
surgery-free test for endometriosis is even closer. A noninvasive test
involving saliva called DotEndo, which its developers say will be available by
the end of this year, could help the estimated 1 in 10 women suffering from
endometriosis get diagnosed—and start treatment—less painfully.
7.
Genome
sequencing is helping keep our food supply safe: Over the past few
years, the CDC and the FDA have been using cutting-edge technology, called
whole genome sequencing, to identify the specific strains of bacteria causing
outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. This allows them to track down the source of
the outbreak, whether it’s lettuce, frozen corn, or a batch of soy nut butter.
“Before we had this technology, it took much longer to piece together the
information about outbreaks, and they could make thousands of people sick,”
says Peter Cassell, a spokesperson for the FDA. “Now we can figure it out
faster and contain the outbreaks to a much smaller group of people.” Go to
fda.gov/safety/recalls to sign up for news alerts about recalls and outbreaks
as they happen.
Advancements in technology mean advancements in your health
and even your at-home safety too, thanks to Life Alert. While wearing their
simple to use, lightweight and waterproof emergency medical alert you can
summon an help fast. This technological advancement makes living at home
independently and safely, possible! Should you encounter a life threatening
emergency, simply push the button on your pendant and summon the proper
authorities fast, 24/7. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, but
with Life Alert you can make it safer too. Get yours today! For a free Life
Alert brochure call 1-800-513-2934.
Works Cited:
1.
Cohen, Marisa. “8 Incredible Medical
Breakthroughs That Could Transform Your Health.” Real Simple. 27 September 2018. <https://www.realsimple.com/health/first-aid-health-basics/health-technology-advances>.
