Winter 2013 Families & Health update

Author
by Duhita Mahatmya, Ph.D., SNP Representative
Content Area
Family Health

The Families and Health Section is now on social media! Follow us on Twitter (@NCFR_FH) and like our Facebook page for announcements, NCFR news, resources, and other information on ways to support the FH community. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you may also consider linking up to social media tools and applications that can support your personal and family health.

For instance, there are many app's that can manage your health and medical records.

  • Family Medical Manager and Cake Health are free and allow you to save your personal and family information for insurance, doctors, medications, allergies, emergency contacts, and track your health care spending.
  • Apps like WebMDmobile (free) and KidsDoc ($1.99) can help you to identify health symptoms. Healthy eating is another great way to promote family health; free apps from Whole Foods and Epicurious house hundreds of recipes for family meals.
  • For food allergies and other special dietary needs, Foodditive ($3.99), My Food Facts ($0.99), Honest Label (free), Fooducate (free), Healthy Out (free), and Allergy Eats (free) are a few of the app's available that help to identify ingredients, nutrition facts, food allergens, and healthy restaurant options.
  • And once you eat, don't forget to exercise! From simple pedometer app's like Move (free) to numerous exercise guides, including ways to exercise your brain (e.g., Lumosity, also free), there is an app to meet your fitness needs.

On the other hand, if you are looking for ways to slow down, Stress Check (free) can track your stress levels and provide actionable recommendations to reduce your high-stress areas.

Applications for mediation, tai chi, and yoga are also available. Finally, apps like CaringBridge (free) can help you stay connected to your family and friends during challenging health events.

For a full menu of health app options search your iTunes store, Google Play Store, or appcrawlr.com and find tools to get your holiday season and New Year started on a healthy foot. Even with all these great resources, don't forget that unplugging from technology and spending time with your family and friends are always simple ways to promote your personal and family health.