The Benefits

People can be partners in their own health. Everyone in your family can benefit from knowing your family’s health stats and history and sharing this information with his or her doctor.

Instant feedback is a great motivator

There is an old saying in management, if you want to improve something, start by measuring it, or you won’t see how to make a difference.

The added appeal of today’s self-tracking tools is that seeing the numbers so soon can be motivational: they reward you when you do well and they spur you to do something when you feel lazy.

If you want to lose weight for example, it can be hard to stay motivated. You may decide part of the strategy is to do more walking. But you won’t lose weight overnight. What helps you stay motivated is seeing the instant feedback that something like a pedometer or activity monitor gives you. It keeps you going long enough to see the hard results when you step on those scales.