The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost $1500 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than $100. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US$500m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 The Future Well » design http://thefuturewell.com We design services and products that create health and happiness. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:42:00 +0000 en hourly 1 In an arm wrestle, who wins; your Gut or Health Science? http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:25:17 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1609 I know they are unlikely to meet at arm wrestling competition, but stick with me.  If you are reading this post I believe you know exactly what you need to do to be really healthy.  I believe your Gut can tell you all you need to know.  And I believe the health scientists are way behind you. Jay recently reblogged Dr Mike Evans who made a nice cartoon of the science behind exercise benefits and the huge impact it makes compared to pills and scalpels.  Nice reasoned argument.  But do we really need to hear this?  I know it already and I believe that you do to. Back in 2003 we set up Virgin Health Miles in the U.S. specifically to reward people for play and movement .  Everyone on the team believed in their gut that it was the right thing to do and that exercise is the best medicine. Personally, I'm lucky.  Coming from New Zealand and being brought up by the beach I have always been hugely into the benefits of exercise and play.  I did a Physical Education degree, I played competitive tennis, soccer and basketball.  And I "played" at everything from hacky sack, to swimming, skiing and snorkelling.  I now also play golf, but just to be clear here - golf is not exercise.  It's a good walk spoiled... Then, after moving to the U.S. and setting up Bcycle I went mad for cycling - mountain, road and a Brompton folding bike to get to meetings around London. I probably now cycle about 8 hours a week.  And love the aesthetic of the speed and movement and the sheer pain. I see a dichotomy in my friends.  Those who commit themselves to exercise and those who do not.  Those who find a way to get out-and-about even with work pressures and kids and the like and those who commit to their excuses and then stick doggedly to them. The key is not waiting for the inspiration, just go and do something, the inspiration will grow over time.  And if, after one month you're still not inspired, suck it up and keep going.  There are no excuses. Forget searching the literature and reacting to the latest newspaper headline about lipitor going generic or the latest celebrity weight loss plan. Get out, play and sweat.  And do more tomorrow than you did today.  Go at it as hard as you can.  Put your feet up when you're dead.  Until then go for it.  ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/13/in-an-arm-wrestle-who-wins-your-gut-or-health-science/feed/ 3 Doctors should inspire. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:51:16 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1605 As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause. I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand. Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card-- sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them. My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost 00 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than 0. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things. Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription-- am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/12/12/doctors-should-inspire/feed/ 2 The Future Well in Vogue http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:18:58 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1584 Ilse Crawford, that highlights from around the world "design that puts people first." This is exactly our mission with The Future Well. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/07/27/the-future-well-in-vogue/feed/ 2 Bcycle wins Fast Company plaudits http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:26 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1568 Fast Company has recently rated Bcycle as number five in the list of 10 most innovative companies in transportation.  I'm really proud of this. When I was VP of Consumer Innovation at Humana, I built Bcycle in collaboration with Trek and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. And I'm even more proud that Bcycle launched in Boulder this week and is down to the final two for New York City! This is good stuff. This is health. ]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/19/bcycle-wins-fast-company-plaudits/feed/ 1 Freshocracy. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 15:06:50 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1563 This is health: Freshocracy]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/17/freshocracy/feed/ 1 This is health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 16:17:57 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1559 Health Tech 2011 about “What is health?” and how the internet can enable better health for you and your community. I've articulated before on this site our definition of health, but it's obviously a complicated concept. So we're starting a weekly theme on the site, "This is health." Here's the first: Called “Favela Painting,” this brightly colored village is the work of Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. Working in a slum outside Rio, their goal is to use art “as a tool to inspire, create beauty, combat prejudice, and attract attention.” The care and passion embodied by the murals effectively transforms the favela from outside in. Some really thoughtful words about the effects of this project, on the Magical Urbanism site:
‘Favela painting’ affects the aesthetic order of how favelas are perceived from within and outside its natural embryonic growth. Colour brings hope. It brings a different understanding of space and its people, inviting others to co-create and co-represent much more constructively and positively life here. It appeals to our senses in a way that we do not reject but embrace these places and the potential for better life. It articulates a different discourse of social change; of engagement, contributing to improve life for favela dwellers.
It’s hard to say it any more succinctly than “color brings hope.” Thank you, Aesthetics of Joy!]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/05/16/this-is-health/feed/ 1 Health apps are about as effective as public health ads. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:58:19 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1544 A quick glance at the iPhone app store for medical and health-related iPhone apps shows that, if you want to manage your health via your iPhone, you have a ton of options built with relatively little effort and cost. I have about 100 apps on my iPhone, but the average user has about 40. I use at most about 6 to 8 every single day (Instapaper, Calendar, Clock, tumblr, remote) which is probably more than the average user. Research shows that "the vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download." How many apps can you use on a daily basis? Better yet, how many health apps can you use on a daily basis? How many health apps make consistently changing your behavior for the healthier something you truly want to engage with because it's fun, sexy, and dead stupid simple? Answer: very, very, very few, if any. Are there any home runs in the health app world that engage users consistently over time and truly changes behavior? People claim Nike+ and Livestrong's Calorie Tracker, as reflected by sales in the App Store. There's no reason to assume that any of these apps have better than 5% usage after one month of downloading them. In fact, the majority of these apps require an active engagement such as inputting your food to count calories. Try doing that for longer than a week and see what happens. Active data collection is ridiculously cumbersome, time consuming, and a bit socially inappropriate when eating with others. Even when the data collection is passive (install something once and data just flows to you), what will you do with the data? Collin over at Frog Design installed the TED 5000 energy monitoring system in his house and lived with it for a month. His conclusion:
"I watched everything closely for the first few days, but the novelty of active monitoring wore off quickly. It took less than a week to recognize the rhythm and patterns of our everyday life...while I’m more aware of my use, the 5000 hasn’t done much to change it."
So I think we can safely assume that the promise of apps radically revolutionizing our health is heavily inflated. So, then, what good are health apps? Health apps are about the equivalent of old school public health advertising. Just as I see an ad when I get on the subway telling me that this soft drink has 40 packets of sugar, I whip out my iPhone and see the Livestrong app on my homescreen reminding me that I need to eat well. I don't really want to use it because it's just such a drag. It's cumbersome and a reminder that there's this big downer in my life that I want to change. And there's a 95% chance I won't use it a month after downloading it. But I see it every day on my home screen. Therefore, this app may be about as effective as a subway ad telling me to stop drinking 40 packets of sugar in that Starbucks Trenta.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/02/22/health-apps-are-about-as-effective-as-public-health-ads/feed/ 27 How you spend your time determines your health. http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/#comments Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:11:18 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1529 Do you spend 8 hours in front of a screen at work? Do you then spend your free time watching TV or poking around the internet when you get home? How much time are you spending cooking healthy meals to eat with friends and family? How much time are you doing physical activities that make you happy? A recent study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology entitled, Screen-Based Entertainment Time, All-Cause Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events found that:
Recreational sitting, as reflected by television/screen viewing time, is related to raised mortality and CVD risk regardless of physical activity participation. Inflammatory and metabolic risk factors partly explain this relationship.
Essentially, we're starting to understand health in terms of how much time you spend being sedentary, not about how much physical activity you get. About six months ago, I purchased a standing desk. It took a few weeks to get used to standing all day, but now, for the rest of my life, I will never sit and work at a computer again. My time is now actively spent using my leg and core muscles rather than being almost 100% passive while sitting. I'm burning calories while working. However, there's only one problem. I'm not using my arms. Many years ago, Apple patented the concept of a touch screen iMac. From what I hear, the problem with this type of computer interface is that people simply become exhausted using their hands all day interacting with a touchscreen mounted in front of them. It makes sense. Try and hold your hands in front of your body for a few minutes and you'll understand. However, you would burn some significant calories. Imagine standing and waving your hands all day in front of a screen. You would surely get tired, and yes, that would be the point. You would be tired and work would be good for you. For the past 600,000 years, our bodies evolved to physically work and be tired. It's in our genes. But the problem just needs to be reframed. Working at a screen shouldn't be all about comfort. That's how we've always viewed working at computers-- just look at these beautiful and "healthy" chairs! Work should be reframed. It should be about optimizing your productivity, your health, and your life. To do this, we need to reframe how we should spend our time. We should do everything we can to minimize passive time and maximize active time. I'd love to see Apple Health release a screen to fit into a work environment that makes me work. It wouldn't be for everyone, but a significant portion of the population actually cares about their health.]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/18/how-you-spend-your-time-determines-your-health/feed/ 6 Tesco Clubcard and Health Rewards http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/ http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:57 +0000 grant http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1239 Jay and I have been talking a lot about rewards programmes for health recently.  We figured it'd be worth doing a series of blogs around rewards programmes since they will become more and more important in health and wellbeing. Let's start with sharing a bit more about my most important rewards programme experience - Tesco Clubcard. For those of you who don't know Tesco, they are the second most profitable retailer in the world (after Walmart) and the largest British retailer.  It has 472,000 staff. There is a book about what we did.  It's worth a read.  I have only skimmed it looking for my name and then highlighting it with a fluorescent yellow marker!  Many people seem to have read it.  There are also case studies galore about it in most business schools around the world. Anyway, Clubcard started as a project that I led at Tesco to see if a rewards programme might be beneficial to the business.  I went to the US, around Europe and to Sweden. It was soon clear that the database technology tied to point of sale technology would mean that we could track consumer purchase behaviour with incredible speed and ease and sophistication. So we built and trialled a programme.  We tested and learnt as we went and extended to 14 stores around the UK, from London to Whitstable to Barrow-in-Furness.  We found that the simple rewards system (which gave people points for pounds spent) encouraged people to visit more often and spend more money.  Amazingly, they also believed that the card was not changing their own behaviour in any way.  They saw the rewards as "something for nothing". We also gained an incredible understanding of consumer behaviour.  We first used this understanding to improve our marketing and then moved quite quickly into changing our store merchandising, promotions, product development and even new business development (we launched financial services off the back of Clubcard and online shopping). In the first year we measured a profit increase of £380GBP (US0m). Our competition at the time were all dumbfounded and totally unprepared to launch themselves (since our technology investment had taken a year).  We took their customers and reduced their profits. We went from number two in the UK to number one. What does this have to do with healthcare? Our Take Someone is going to build an industry changing health rewards programme soon.  All the little programmes so far have just been a warmup. It will track consumer behaviour and not be limited to inputs from the Physician or Hospital. It will use new technologies, but it will still focus on core human drivers.  Possibly one of the strongest being personal greed. It will not being about adding years to your life or making you feel better in 10 years time.  It we be about improving giving me stuff now - for stuff I feel I'm already doing. The companies and organisations that launch the programme will transform themselves and healthcare.  But having worked with many of the big healthcare companies and organisations we struggle to see who it will come from.  It takes courage and imagination and a deeply held belief in the customer that is very rare in healthcare. We wonder if it will provide the gateway for a new company to enter the healthcare industry? Tesco Healthy Living anyone?]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2011/01/10/tesco-clubcard-and-health-rewards/feed/ 0 Public Health 2.0: It won’t come from Public Health 1.0 http://thefuturewell.com/2010/12/29/public-health-2-0-it-wont-come-from-public-health-1-0/ http://thefuturewell.com/2010/12/29/public-health-2-0-it-wont-come-from-public-health-1-0/#comments Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:30:42 +0000 Jay Parkinson http://thefuturewell.com/?p=1495 I received my Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins in 2006. I took a course on transportation safety where we focused on designing roads for safety, making airlines safer, and decreasing the risk of medical helicopter crashes. In 2007, I worked for Public Citizen, Ralph Nader's consumer advocacy group. Ralph's book, Unsafe at Any Speed, forced the automobile industry to focus on converting their cars from steel death traps to smart machines teeming with airbags, safety belts, and crumple zones. As a result, millions of lives have been saved all over the world and automobile companies now advertise and compete based on safety. And in just the last fifteen years, our highways have gotten much safer: But what struck me most in my public health training was the deep codependent relationship public health has with the medical world. Understandably so, public health has traditionally been mostly about epidemiology, biostatistics, and medical services. In fact, the accepted definition of public health is:
"the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals."
But the next generation of Public Health won't involve the medical world. We're currently seeing large companies like Google enter the health space. Google Health believes that "better health comes from better information" and "you should have easy access to your own health information - anytime, anywhere." While this is a worthy mission, Google is very much missing the mark. I'm not aware of any evidence that access to medical data or everyday wellness data changes long-term behaviors or a population's health outcomes. But Google is working on a much, much more important initiative that, if successful, could be one of the greatest contributions to public health the world has ever seen-- data-driven, crash-proof "brains on wheels"-- self-driving cars that aware of the road, of other cars, and of passengers. Imagine a world where the highways are as safe as the skies (45,000 planes take off and land every day in America). This is Public Health 2.0-- data-driven, technology-enabled, real world solutions that take an active risky everyday behavior and turn it into a passive, nearly error-proof experience. Public Health innovation won't come from your local woefully underfunded and understaffed public health department. Public health revolutions will come from tech companies that have almost zero connections to medical care. Photo: Nicolai Howalt]]> http://thefuturewell.com/2010/12/29/public-health-2-0-it-wont-come-from-public-health-1-0/feed/ 1