Archives for October 2019

October 31, 2019 By GOQii Leave a Comment

The New Age Health Horror of Diabesity

When someone says “horror”, what do you imagine? Definitely nothing pleasant but something extremely scary, right? Do you picture ghosts and demons? If your perception of horror is limited to only supernatural occurrences, you might want to take a big step back. While supernatural entities are subjective, health issues are very much real and their stats are horrifying to say the least.

Recently, we came across a study titled ‘Finding a Policy Solution to India’s Diabetes Epidemic‘ by Karen Siegel, K. M Venkat Narayan and Sanjay Kinra. The study indicated that ‘In India, 35 million people have diabetes—a number expected to more than double by 2025, disproportionately affecting working-age people’. That means over 70 million people. Isn’t that scary?

Diabesity, which is a combination of Diabetes and Obesity, is even worse! Can you picture it? Obesity is a key risk factor for diabetes. India has the world’s largest number of people with Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) and Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG), which are the precursors for diabetes. Obesity and IGT are mostly found in younger populations.

Major Causes Leading to Diabesity

Globalization: facilitates access to various pre-packaged and processed foods. In fact, there is minimal physical activity as we have one touch access to almost everything! Surely, we are growing economically but at the cost of our health.
Nutrition Transition: There is a major shift observed in the meal patterns of Indians today. People are turning more towards western foods, foods that are pre-packaged, ready to eat foods, high in calories, sugar, aerated drinks, hydrogenated fats over the simple traditional food which are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber and other essential nutrients.
Higher Percentage of Abdominal Fat: Abdominal obesity is the key factor of insulin resistance and development of diabetes.
Malnutrition During Pregnancy: Because of the co-existence of underweight and overweight, children are often born underweight and adapted to a low-nutrition environment. Low-birth weight infants are more susceptible than those of normal birth weight to obesity and diabetes, especially when raised in an Obesogenic environment.
Lifestyle: Most people today lead sedentary lifestyles devoid of much movement. Even at work we’re glued to our desks and laptops. This accounts to minimal physical activity. At the same time, the stress factor is the maximum with respect to targets/goals associated with work, family and social circles.

How To Keep It At Bay

Keeping Diabesity at bay actually involves 3 very simple and basic lifestyle modifications:

Make Healthy Food Choices: Choose whole grains and its products over refined ones. Incorporate more fruits and veggies daily. Opt for products less in sugars, fats and high in fiber. Make a habit of reading nutritional labels before buying a product. Do not forget “MODERATION IS THE KEY”.
Exercise: Make it a point to exercise on a regular basis. Exercising will not only keep you active but also help reduce insulin resistance, improve cardio vascular strength, tone your muscles, and increase Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Exercising releases endorphins which is a feel good hormone that will also help you relieve stress(both physical and mental).
Stress Management: Managing time and stress is essential to stop the release of the stress hormone Cortisol which makes you crave for foods that are high in carbs. All that you eat when stressed is stored in the body as fats, especially in the belly. Meditating regularly before going to bed, deep breathing during stressful moments, indulging in your hobbies, exercising, completing your work on time, etc. will help curb stress levels. It is not a single factor that would work but both.

If you want to learn about effective ways to manage obesity and diabetes, or want effective exercises to combat both, tune into GOQii Play and get live coaching from renowned experts you can even interact with.

We hope this article on Diabesity alarms you enough to make necessary lifestyle modifications before its too late! Stay healthy and #BeTheForce!

October 26, 2019 By GOQii 1 Comment

If You Must Take Control, Control Your Health! | Sakuntala Rao User Story

At some point in life, you can’t help but wonder that as you get older, things change. Life passes you by in such a blur that most times you’re unable to take control. Health issues begin to surface as medication and doctor visits become more common. While things seem bleak in this fixated downward spiral, there are individuals who think otherwise! At the age of 60, our player Sakuntala Rao can proudly say that life didn’t pass her by. She’s living it, breathing it and enjoying it to the fullest with good health… but was it always like this?

Early Life and Health Issues

Hailing from Bangalore, Sakuntala Rao had two major concerns – sleep issues and fluctuating weight. Albeit, she was aware of the reasons for both her concerns but was unable to find a viable solution. She attributes her sleep issues to high levels of stress. Being a control freak, she used to get worked up when things didn’t go the way she wanted. She had trouble falling asleep and used to wake up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep. Less sleep hours and disturbed sleep were regular occurrences.

On the other hand, her weight was something she had always struggled with. This was due to her travel routine for work, her diet which was completely erratic, marred with junk food, untimely eating, and zero portion control. As she puts it, her eating habits were all over the place.

To add to this, she was under medication for hyperthyroidism for 14 years before she underwent Radioactive Iodine Therapy which reversed her condition the wrong way. She developed hypothyroidism since most of the gland was destroyed during the procedure. This again contributed to hormonal imbalance leading to weight gain.

She often tried fad diets from time to time. Though she lost a little weight, she would gain it back in a month or two. Her daily routine was also devoid of any physical activity. After her retirement in 2017, she got herself a personal trainer to help her get active. She decided she wanted to focus more on health and fitness. That’s where GOQii came in!

Joining GOQii and Making a Lifestyle Change

In 2018, her husband got her a GOQii tracker as a gift. She explored the app, learned about the coaching mechanism, live video coaching by experts and blogs which motivated her to stick with GOQii. She was assigned a GOQii Coach when she signed up. Her goal was to just get fit which, with help from her Coach, got narrowed down to her two major issues – improving sleep and weight loss.

The first habit set by her GOQii Coach was an early dinner. She was also asked to perform Pranayama as demonstrated by GOQii Play Coach Ronak Gajjar. Sakuntala Rao was also given a few links to meditation which she was asked to listen to after Pranayama. She was also asked to stay away from her phone for at least an hour before bed.

All of this together, with the realization that she cannot control everything and that she needs to let go at times, helped her calm down. This reduced her stress greatly and thus, improved her sleep quality.

She wasn’t asked to change much in her diet as she had already started eating healthy. Only a few tweaks were made. For instance, including protein in each meal. She also began intermittent fasting on the 16/8 pattern – Her last meal being dinner at 6 pm and she breaks her fast at 10 am the next morning. The first thing she drinks is a glass of warm water followed by Ajwain (soaked overnight) and pink salt followed by nuts.

Her lunch consists of 2 rotis, some curry, and a large bowl of salad which consists of carrots, cucumber, radish, avocado, capsicum and some seeds mixed with curd. She consumes a cup of coffee and eats a fruit before that. Dinner consists of one roti, some curry, soup and salad.

Currently, she has set her goal as reaching a weight of 60kg in order to fall under the normal BMI range and maintaining that level.

Experiencing the Change

Sakuntala Rao says that her sleep has improved significantly. She is now able to sleep for an average of 7 hours and doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night. Her weight has reduced from 79kg in July 2018 to 70g when she last checked. She feels that progress has been difficult but consistent. She thanks her GOQii Coach for being persistent and following up with her, ensuring she keeps on track.

Now, she believes that mental health is just as important as physical health, especially after the age of 60 with people talking about Dementia and Alzheimer’s everywhere. She has enrolled herself for a dancing class as a hobby and she is also associated with a group called Silver Talkies. They cater to people over the age of 55 and get them involved in various social activities. The group has also planned a dance performance for early November in support of a social cause.

Her current physical activities include functional workouts 4 days a week, walking for at least 4 days and attending dance class 2 days a week. She attempted swimming but gave up as she couldn’t overcome her Aquaphobia (fear of water).

What Sakuntala Rao Thinks of GOQii

Sakuntala Rao praises her GOQii Coach for helping her make such a positive lifestyle change. She said her Coach was very prompt in her responses, be it a comment or a problem. She is very pleased with the fact that her Coach personalizes her entire routine keeping her age in mind. She also shares a lot of information which is educational and useful.

Has this story inspired you to make a change? If anything, it tells us that even if we can’t control everything, we can certainly control our health and the choices we make. Want to share your story with us? Fill this form and we’ll reach out to you.

Keep inspiring, stay motivated and #BeTheForce

October 23, 2019 By Vickel Dubey Leave a Comment

Understanding Patient Behaviour Towards Digital Therapeutics

Are we, as patients ready to pay for an app which is intended for Therapeutic Purpose & Helping us manage our lifestyle better?

What a Patient Thinks

Ideation of this whole article took a shape while having a discussion with my father who is a Type 2 Diabetes patient. I was actually insisting him to install an app to better manage his lifestyle specifically the dietary recommendation (Since he is a banker by profession and also manages family business, day to day life is a complete mess) given by his doctor. Initially he was in agreement but when he asked me if there is any cost associated, I nodded yes. His decision changed immediately. According to him, he knows what to eat, what not to eat and on top of it, he is taking his medication (which he often forgets) so there is no need of a digital intervention. I tried to explain to him multiple times thereafter but all in vain. According to him, it’s just a waste of money.

Patient Compliance Behaviour: Medication vs Lifestyle Recommendation

This is the story of most Chronic Disease patients for whom managing their lifestyle is a crucial need. But it’s really sad to see the poor grades when it comes to be compliant of various lifestyle aspects. According to a study conducted among Indian diabetes patients, only 24.1% were aware and have been following self-blood glucose monitoring appropriately. Similarly, only 37% of the patients are adhered to the dietary prescription made by their physicians and only 35% follow up the physical exercise recommendations.

Why is it important to talk about “Patient’s Compliance Behaviour” before getting into the “Patient’s Commercial Behaviour”? The reason is that patients need a push specifically in case of chronic diseases because it’s all about care, whether it’s done by the patient himself or by a caregiver. In case of medication, the weightage is higher since it’s coming from doctors (with serious words) while in case of lifestyle, it comes as a recommendation rather than a prescription which defines the seriousness.

So, if a patient is serious enough about his disease condition and strictly follows the testing, medication and lifestyle modification, he/she doesn’t need any intervention, traditional or digital to manage his/her lifestyle but the statistics don’t reflect the same. Hence, it becomes important for patients who are not serious or moderately serious to keep engaged and motivated to adhere with the doctor’s recommendation via a push. Digital gives that push.

Now comes the commercial behaviour. There are hundreds of apps available in the market to manage your disease conditions. Some are freely available; some are coming complementary with the devices/treatment and for some, you have to lighten your pockets. Definitely the skewness is higher towards the free ones. Most of us preferred the free apps and uninstall any paid app when it asks for a payment after the trial period. But free apps have their own limitation and for better services/attributes or features, you have to pay. Same goes with the apps which are offering lifestyle management solutions for patients.

A Preliminary Investigation

To get a deeper understanding of patient’s behaviour, I conducted a small survey among diabetes patients. The survey designed on SurveyMonkey consists of 10 questions (5 open ended, 5 close ended) and shared on a few social media & chatting platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp etc. The key questions are:

Patient’s Name
Age
Is he a diabetic patient?
If yes, is he using any online application to manage his Lifestyle?
Name of the app he is currently using
Is it a paid app?
Approximate cost of the app.
Will he pay for an app which promises to better manage lifestyle (in case the answer of Q6 is no)?
If yes, what is the approximate cost he will pay?
If no, why?

There were 43 responses received in total out of which 32 were diabetics. The outcome of the survey are as follows:

~80% of the total respondents are within the age group of 30 to 60 years
Out of total diabetes patients, only 36% are using one or another app to manage their lifestyle
Majority of the patients are using MySugar (45%) followed by Apollo Sugar (27%), GOQii (18%) and Wellthy (9%).
Only 2 out of the total patients with diabetes who are using an app have paid some amount
The approximate cost which they have paid is ~INR 2500
77% of the patients who are using an app (and answered no for Q6) are not ready to pay even if it provides a better solution, while only 23% are ready to pay.
The approximate cost which most of the patients feel comfortable to pay is INR 100-200 per month.
Free availability, YouTube videos, Advice by friends and family, waste of money etc. are some of the major reasons why people don’t want to pay for an app.

So, if we look closely, patients are quite ignorant when it comes to pay for an app. Reason, they consider it as a waste of money. This outlook needs to be changed. This perception needs to be changed. And it can only be changed when it comes as a prescription and not just a simple recommendation.

Conclusion

If a patient can spend ~INR 9,000 (from an analysis conducted by Lady Hardinge Medical College) annually for his diabetes treatment, he can definitely spend few hundred bucks to manage his lifestyle for better outcomes. But the patient also needs support from other industry stakeholders such as Pharma, Devices and payers so that the cost can be shared and patient will have to bear minimum cost burden.

October 12, 2019 By GOQii 2 Comments

From Overweight to Overachieving! Vijayakrishna Iyengar User Story

At the age of 44, he was battling obesity and was also diagnosed with diabetes in May 2016. This was a wake up call for Vijayakrishna Iyengar to take control of his lifestyle and change it for good. A few concentrated and dedicated efforts by him, his doctor and his personal coach have helped him walk the path of good health. In about a year and a half, he lost 50kg and his blood sugar is in control with proper diet and exercise. Let’s hear his story in his own words!

Daily Life and Routine

My life was carrying along. Daily exercise was just walking on the treadmill in the gym for an hour although I followed a strict diet. I guess my biggest flaw was that I used to sleep only for 3-4 hours a day. Bad lifestyles have bad results. Mine was that I was obese, weighing around 138kg with a 48″ waist size and my shirt was 48″ as well. If that wasn’t enough, sometime around May 2016, I was diagnosed with diabetes (252) and that’s when the alarm in my head went off!

Suddenly, there was a need to rectify my habits in order to lead a medical-free and healthy life. I immediately started with some activities on my own. I started going to the gym and began walking on the treadmill. I was only resorting to cardio exercises and ignoring the other aspects of fitness. I had no guidance coming my way so I was not sure if I was doing the right thing.

Enter GOQii

I wanted to start doing the right things. I began by searching for a fitness band and came across many products. Then I came across GOQii! What I liked about GOQii is that it was not just a fitness band but a subscription for personal coaching which focused on holistic healthcare. The personal coach would guide you on fitness and nutrition.

GOQii went out of the way to ensure healthy habits are imbibed by the users. I found that very appealing and chose GOQii. I was very fortunate to get an excellent GOQii Coach who understood my goals which were weight reduction and to get fit, and my coach began advising very relevant habits which I could follow.

Earlier, when I had started going to the gym I only focused on the treadmill but my coach refined that and added strength exercises and core workouts. She also emphasized the importance of proper deep sleep and its advantages. Gradually, the habits set in. It’s not possible to change yourself in a day. With concentrated efforts and discipline, I am now able to sleep well for seven hours. Also, I do proper well-balanced cardio, strengthening and core workouts.

My water intake has improved and I regularly take at least 2L of water a day. All these positive habits helped me to sustain my efforts and make it a habit for a lifetime.

My strict diet (prescribed by my Doctor) followed with proper exercises helped me to reduce my weight (50kg and both trousers & shirts reduced by 10 inches) and the habits imbibed because of GOQii helps me sustain that. With these lifestyle changes for the better, I feel very good and positive about myself. My goal is now to reach a weight target of 75kg.

What Does Vijayakrishna Iyengar Have to Say About GOQii?

I cannot thank GOQii enough! The best part of having been on GOQii is that I can earn Karma Points for being healthy. These points I have been donating to charity. So I am doing my bit for the society as well, which otherwise, we seldom do. I have been maintaining a streak of 211 days (of walking more than 12,000 steps each day) and this helped me to earn a good amount of Karma Points.

Apart from being self-motivated and having a coach to further amplify that motivation, the other big motivating factor is earning Karma points. Whenever I walk, someone who may be underprivileged or having health issues gets the right treatment or support for food or education. What else is required to get motivated to move or to be healthy?

Among the other brands who just sell the band, GOQii focuses on mind, body and soul through physical fitness, meditation, and Karma points. Apart from that, having a dedicated GOQii Coach who understands the unique challenges of individuals and guides them properly to achieve their fitness goal makes it a unique product and service.

What Does His GOQii Coach Have to Say?

Vijayakrishna Iyengar was very determined and motivated when he came on board. I am really impressed by his sincerity. He always tried to do more than the target step count and never missed his workout. Along with cardio exercises, we also worked on doing core workouts and strength training. He has also started slow jogging. Sleep duration and quality improved by avoiding electronic gadgets before bedtime and going to bed by 10:30 pm. I am sure he will achieve his goal to be in normal BMI soon. Seeing him so motivated, motivates me too!

We hope you found this story about Vijayakrishna Iyengar to be motivating! Go on and make a positive lifestyle change today and #BeTheForce!

To share your journey or transformation with us, click here and our team will reach out to you!