Apple’s Health app stands out as an essential tool to know our physical and mental state
Apple’s Health app is a great information center where we can take a look at our sports trends, how we slept, the steps we took and even our heart health. In this article we are going to help you fully understand the Apple Health apptaking as a reference the Health application on the iPhone, although it is also available on the iPad.
What is the Apple Health app and how does it work?
The Health application aims to centralize and manage information related to our health and well-being. This encompasses both physical and mental health. It was launched in 2014 with iOS 8 and during these ten years it has been completed with a large number of sections and functions.
Health Data Centralization
The Health app collects data from various devices, such as the iPhone, andl Apple Watch and third-party accessories such as scales, blood pressure monitors… Thus, in the same place we can see our data on physical activity, sleep, nutrition, heart values, etc.
Physical Activity Monitoring
On its own, the iPhone Health app automatically counts steps, the distance traveled and the stairs climbed. All this without having to have an Apple Watch. If, on the other hand, you have the Apple watch, the data will be more detailedadding more types of training, in addition to adding other values such as electrocardiograms, blood oxygen, heart rate, sleep health, the menstrual cycle and pregnancy phases.
Sleep Recording and Analysis
If you have an Apple Watch or an application from the App Store that connects with Health and analyzes your sleep, within it you can find the different phases: from light sleep, wakefulness, deepREM phases…
Nutrition Tracking
The application also allows us to add the foods we eat, their nutritional values and water. This can be done through manual data entry or by connecting third-party applications. A very good one dedicated to water intake is Water Reminder.
Medication Reminders
If you take medication daily, within the Health app you can add the pills you take depending on the schedule and days of the week. When the time comes, a notification will alert you on your iPhone and Apple Watch that you should take your medication.
Record of our mental health
We can easily keep track of our mental health in the Health app. If you search to explore, mood, you can add a momentary record or how you have felt in general today. In a very graphic way you will point out If you are good, very good, normal, average, bad… and associate it with certain topics: family, work, friends, etc. This way you will be able to detect streaks with common elements to solve them if necessary.
Where is the Health application?
Salud is found on both iPhone and iPad. You will recognize her thanks to her heart icon on a white background. In fact, its name is Salud, so you can search for it like this on the iPhone and iPad. If you can’t find it, you may have deleted it at some point. To download it again, you just have to go to the App Store and type Health in the search engine.
How to make the Health app count my steps
One of the most essential features of the iPhone Health app is the ability to count steps. The best is that you don’t have to do anything in particular . Thanks to the advanced sensors of the iPhone and the intelligence of the Health application, it will give you the updated result at all times. You will only have to take the iPhone with you, and that’s it. Without having to open any application, start training, etc. When you want to know how many steps you have walked, Enter the iPhone Health application and see the progress in steps taken and kilometers traveled.
Setting up the Health app on iPhone
As we have seen, the Health application reflects what our devices automatically record. Therefore, the configuration that must be done with it is practically minimal. However, it is good to configure certain aspects, especially for If at any time we have an emergency and medical services need to know something about us. Since vital health data is displayed even with the phone locked.
- Go to the Health App.
- Enter your profile.
- Fill in the information both within Health Profile and Medical Data
Analyzing data from the Health app
The main tab is where you will find the main health data: your steps, the energy burned, what you have slept… This It will depend on whether you have an Apple Watch and the model. In my case, I have an Apple Watch Series 9 and it collects a large amount of data.
The data I recommend having
In the explore tab you will be able to see all the health values, you will even see empty categories to fill in data manually. My tip is Add the health data that interests you most to the summary tab. To do this, you just have to click on Edit and pin. If it helps you, this is the data I have:
- Activity
- Steps
- Walking distance
- Heart rate
- aerobic capacity
- blood oxygen
- Vital signs
- Dream
- Health trends
In addition to the “loose” data, the Health application analyzes our evolution over time. Whether it is positive or negative. I recommend you andtake a look at the trends section to see if everything is going as it should. For example, in the last fourteen weeks, I have reduced my number of hours on my feet. Something you should definitely keep an eye on.
Share your data with trusted people
One of the things you can do is share your health data with someone you trust a lot: your partner, a gym friend, and even your parents. You can also ask them to share their data with you. A very useful example is that our parents or grandparents have an Apple Watch and thus be able to see that their vital signs are in order.
At first it can be a little overwhelming to see so much data and sections in the Health application on our iPhone. However, I encourage you to go through the different sections. Apple has done a tremendous job with this application, and even within the sections you will find illustrations and explanatory texts that will help you understand what that specific constant or data is for.
If you have an Apple Watch there is a new application that complements Health
As we have seen, the Apple Watch is essential to have a greater number of data in the Health application, since without it we will not have heart indicators, oxygen and detailed sleep. As a novelty within the watchOS 11 operating system comes a new application called Vitals.
The Vitals app on Apple Watch
The new Vitals app in watchOS 11 allows us to quickly see nour general state of health: heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen and sleep duration. The best thing about the Vitals app is that establishes a typical range to know that everything is going well. In the event that there is a large variation, you will receive a notification to pay attention to what is happening.
Get to know yourself in depth with the Apple Health app, viewing the most important information from one place to take care of your physical and mental health. And the best thing is that you can do it both from the iPhone and on a larger screen on the iPad.
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