Last updated April 12, 2019
Used cell phones tend to get a bad rap when it comes to health, particularly in the light of the growing body of evidence that suggests cell phone radiation could be linked to the development of cancer, but there are definitely some ways in which new and old cell phones could actually be advantageous to our wellbeing.
One of those ways is by diabetes coaching. A new study which has been published in the “Diabetes Care” pamphlet of the American Diabetes Association has found that a new cell phone application is combining with ordinary treatment programs to help sufferers manage their Type 2 diabetes more effectively. Out of 163 diabetes patients studied, those who were using the cell phone coaching program had a greater decline in glycated hemoglobin, which is an important element in showing how well diabetes is being managed, than those not using the cell phone coaching program.
“These results are very encouraging,” says Charlene C Quinn PhD RN, who is an assistant professor of public health and epidemiology from the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine and who served as the principal investigator on the study. “Mobile health has the potential to help patients better manage any chronic disease, not just diabetes.” Indeed, a recent study of smokers indicated that cell phones could be of help to them too, with those who received helpful text messages being almost twice as likely to give up the habit as those who did not.