Lucky for all of us, technology continues to advance at an increasingly rapid pace and will likely continue to do so in the future as well. Because of this, we get better and better products such as smart TVs that can help improve our health. The most popular brand of smart TVs – LG – has recently introduced a new feature that helps track your fitness and health, called the Health Mate app, and it’s sure to be very useful to many people.
The LG Wellness Way
Most of us know that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. But how many of us are actually following through with it? And how many people who do follow through actually understand what to do? LG Electronics thinks it has found a solution: health tracking built right into its newest smart TVs. Say hello to The LG Wellness Way, a software platform that brings fitness and nutritional advice directly to your living room couch. It’s like having a virtual personal trainer that you never have to leave home to meet! The app works by tracking information from connected devices like heart rate monitors, pedometers, and smart scales; by logging food and calorie intake using apps like MyFitnessPal; or by using an existing smartphone GPS to track exercise, too.
How Does it Work?
LG has included a new Health app in its newest line of smart TVs, providing owners with a window into their health and fitness activity. Once you download LG’s Health mobile app to your smartphone, select Add account from within LG’s Health app and follow a few on-screen prompts. As you perform various activities—running, weight lifting, walking—your smart TV will track your progress through an array of sensors that can detect when you get up or sit down. After performing these actions for five minutes, you’ll earn points which act as incentives to keep going. This way, users are less likely to give up in frustration due to no immediate positive feedback.
Why is this Important?
The new platform, dubbed LG Health, lets you record information like how many steps you take a day and how much time you spend on physical activities. It also features sleep tracking capabilities that let you know just how long it takes for you to fall asleep at night. You can then use these insights to learn about your habits and establish new routines that are more likely to help lead to better health over time. While we’re all quite familiar with wearable gadgets like Fitbit trackers, LG’s approach is different in that it doesn’t require a separate device—you can get most of these same insights by simply buying a new television set.
What will it be used for?
The idea is that consumers can keep tabs on a number of aspects related to their wellbeing. The device will track a user’s heart rate, nutrition intake, stress levels and sleep patterns. Also featured are more standard features such as a virtual trainer and pedometer that can be synced with other services like Fitbit or Apple HealthKit. Whether users will take advantage of these tools remains to be seen, but if they do then it could help LG position itself as an innovator in its sector (TVs). Moreover, if results show that LG TVs have a positive impact on consumers’ well-being then there’s little doubt many competitors would jump at the chance to follow suit—thereby opening up another avenue for LG to capitalize on its lead.
