There are numerous health and wellness apps available, but Lively Health is different. While the other apps are generally used to present a snapshot of the user’s fitness or health at a specific point in time, Lively Health is a comprehensive, holistic app intended for use over a lifetime.
Through the app, the user gets a baseline score which can be improved by following the helpful tips and advice that the app offers.
Ultimately, the app is intended to help prevent – or at least reduce the impact – of chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and more. In doing so, the app promotes “active aging,” allowing the user is able to maintain a healthy and vigorous lifestyle as they get older.
If you’re looking to know even more about the Lively Health App, then check out its Official Press Release, which you can find embedded below.
NEWS – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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CHARITABLE FOUNDATION DEVELOPS FREE, COMPREHENSIVE APP
FOR PREVENTION OF Chronic Condition(s) & active aging
“Lively Health” Helps Users Reduce Incidence, Severity of Chronic Conditions;
Also Aimed at Decreasing the Staggering Cost of Chronic Condition Healthcare
FREMONT, CA (August 6, 2021) – The Joe & Emmy Liu Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit operating foundation, announces the launch of Lively Health, a holistic healthy lifestyle app created to promote chronic condition(s) prevention and active aging. The App, free from Apple App Store and Google Play Store, is the first charitable, self-directed lifestyle conditioning app for chronic condition(s) prevention, and active aging.
The Lively Health app covers 13 healthy lifestyle choices – 13 “pillars” in five groups: physical, mental, social, financial and medical. The pillars were built on five core lifestyle choices with additional mental, social, financial, and medical-related criteria into a holistic health app. Added features such as Health & Longevity Scores, Score Summary, Personal Coach, Team Social, and Records Histogram motivate user revisits and lifestyle changes.
The questions in the app take about two minutes to answer and provide a baseline score for users to determine their current health profile. As users adopt healthier lifestyle choices suggested by the program (based on operant behavior conditioning principles), their scores should improve. This not only boosts users’ overall health but encourages them to use the app on a regular basis to continue their improvement as they gain positive reinforcement.
The app was created under the supervision and direction of several well-respected medical and public health professionals:
- C.P. Chang, MD, who has spent over 20 years on cardiovascular health research at Stanford University. He is the Foundation’s Medical Advisory Committee Chairman.
- Sophia Chen, PhD, a researcher of Health and Research Policy and Bioinformatics at Stanford University. Dr. Chen is the Foundation’s Director of Youth Program.
- Allison Wu, MPH, a former consultant to the World Health Organization in health systems research for Middle East and North Africa. She is the Foundation’s Public Health Committee Chairwoman.
The impetus for the creation of the app stems from the disturbing number of adults with one or more chronic conditions – and the costs associated with them. A study entitled Prevalence of Multiple Chronic Conditions Among US Adults, 2018, from the Centers for Disease Control, provides prevalence estimates of diagnosed single and multiple (≥2) chronic conditions among the noninstitutionalized, civilian US adult population.
The study found that more than half (51.8%) of adults had at least 1 of 10 selected diagnosed chronic conditions (such as arthritis, cancer, coronary heart disease, asthma, and diabetes, to name a few). What’s more, over one-quarter of US adults (27.2%) had multiple chronic conditions. The study concludes that, compared with adults without chronic conditions, adults with multiple chronic conditions have worse health-related quality of life, higher health care costs, and increased risk of death.
The costs associated with chronic conditions are staggering. The organization Fighting Chronic Disease quotes figures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that state $1.65 trillion is spent each year treating patients with one or more chronic diseases. In fact, chronic illnesses account for 75% of the $2.2 trillion spent on health care each year in the U.S.
The five core lifestyle choices in the Lively Health app are an outgrowth of a 2018 Harvard lifestyle research study tracking over 100,000 faculty members, starting at age 50, for 34 years. By following five lifestyle choices of diet and weight control, daily exercise, no smoking and avoiding excessive drinking, participants showed fewer chronic condition(s). What’s more, participants gained an average of 12 and 14 extra years of lifespan per person for male and female groups, respectively.
The original version of the app, called LiuLife, was created for and promoted exclusively to the Chinese market. As the LiuLife app grew in popularity, the foundation decided to roll it out on a much wider geographic scale, using a new name, Lively Health, so that both versions, while identical, could be united under a single brand.
The ultimate goal in preventing chronic conditions is to help people live longer, healthier lives, said Joe Liu, founder of the Joe & Emmy Liu Foundation.
“Our national average lifespan is about 79 years old, ranked number 46 in the world,” he said. “We lag far behind nations like Japan and Singapore that put more emphasis on healthy choices and an active lifestyle. Our goal, through this app, is to help people make better lifestyle choices, reduce the incidence of chronic conditions, and live longer, more fulfilling lives, especially if people use the app not just once or twice but over their entire lifetimes.”
Future enhancements include personalized push notifications based on individuals’ specific health conditions and permission-based sharing of health data.
ABOUT THE JOE & EMMY LIU FOUNDATION AND LIVELY HEALTH APP
The Joe & Emmy Liu Foundation was founded by semiconductor veteran Joe and his wife Emmy as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Foundation’s mission is using technology innovation to benefit human wellbeing. Lively Health is the first charitable self-directed lifestyle conditioning App for chronic condition(s) prevention, and active aging.
