Student’s app has your best interests at heart

by Dara Bradley

Ever wondered what impact drinking all those pints on a Saturday night, eating a greasy fry on a Sunday morning or smoking a box of 20 cigarettes everyday is having on your heart?

Now, thanks to two mobile phone applications developed by a Galway student, you can find out the damage you’re doing to your ticker, for free, with the click of your Smartphone or other ‘smart’ devices.

Mike McNamara, a fourth year medical student at NUI Galway, has developed two new apps in collaboration with the heart and stroke charity Croí.

The apps, which have just been launched on the App Store, will encourage users to make healthy choices when shopping for food and empower people to make healthy lifestyle choices.

The first app Croí HeartWise aims to empower individuals as they attempt to make healthy lifestyle choices. The user can calculate their “heart age” by inputting simple information about themselves.

They can track their dietary and alcohol consumption patterns and monitor their smoking habits, including how much money they would save if they quit.

A detailed physical activity tracker ensures that the user meets the recommended weekly levels of exercise and they can also monitor their goals by observing their progress around a virtual running track.

The second app, Croí FoodWise, uses a “traffic light system” to inform people on their food shopping choices. Users compare the information on the food label with the values assigned to the colours red (unhealthy choice), amber and green (healthy choice).

The apps are free to download from the App Store onto the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch devices and they will be updated regularly. Since their release, the apps have been downloaded by users in over 25 countries.  

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.