Ditch your health app!

HEALTH technology has been big business in the past few years. But is it always good for us? A new medical paper warns the Apple watch’s new abnormal pulse detection tool could create a wave of false positives, with people thinking something is wrong when they’re fine. In fact, many doctors worry these health gadgets and apps are counterproductive. Sleep apps have been blamed for giving people insomnia, because they make people so worried about the data, they can’t sleep!

It’s a similar story with apps and devices that track ovulation to help couples trying to conceive (raised stress levels from using them can affect fertility). I’ve seen this a few times with couples who have been desperate to conceive, and the stress from this has almost resulted in them separating. Then, when they finally throw in the towel, she becomes pregnant.

Health anxiety is the new epidemic sweeping the nation fuelled, in part, by these gadgets.

Doctors and Age UK have warned that restrictions on being able to visit elderly people in care homes will result in them ‘giving up the will to live’. Many readers have written to me over the past few weeks to share heartbreaking stories of loved ones trapped in nursing homes. one cannot stop crying after a skype call with her husband, who is in a dementia home. He was convinced he was being held captive and didn’t understand why. she hasn’t been allowed to see him for three months. We have lost all perspective with this virus, and our fear and excessive caution risk devastating thousands of older people’s lives.