A Personal Health Assistant

You feel kind of dull and sluggish, but don’t really pay attention to it. A notification pops up on your phone: You have not been getting enough sleep. You’ve averaged 6.5 hours of sleep the last 7 days. Based on your recent sleep patterns, you should aim to sleep from 11–8 tonight. Want a reminder?

You’re slogging through an afternoon at work. You keep getting distracted and getting up. You’re not in a flow state. You get a notification: Are you struggling to focus? Try this 10-minute workout, or a 15-minute walk.

You’ve been working a lot lately, and letting your exercise routines go. You get a notification: your exercise is down 50% in the last week, from 1 hour a day to half an hour a day. Would you like to do a small workout to get back on track?

This all seems possible with existing technology, and there is already similar functionality out there. This kind of personal health assistant is gradually coming together with devices like fitness bands like Fitbit and smartwatches like the Apple Watch. Apple looks like the leading contender to lead in personal health tools, as has been argued elsewhere. There’s tremendous potential here to improve health and lower health care costs.