How digital tools can improve your body literacy

Dr Elisabeth Rosen, medical director at Kry, explains what body literacy is, why it’s important and how technology can help us understand our bodies.

For many people, managing their health simply comes down to how they feel and knowing when something is a bit ‘off’. Body literacy takes this a step further and focuses on building knowledge of your body’s natural rhythms, changes and signals to understand your health better. 

There are three stages to improved body literacy: first, observing your ‘normal’ and knowing when something is different to discover when your body is changing; second, learning from these observations and drawing patterns; and finally understanding the ‘messages’ your body is sending you and using this information to actively take responsibility and control of your health and wellbeing.

Body literacy is particularly important for women, who experience changing hormone levels on a daily basis. In many cases, there’s a small understanding of how these changes can impact your health, in part due to a historic lack of research into female health.

According to the BMA, ‘women fare more poorly compared with men in relation to disease prevalence, access to healthcare, and outcomes after treatment’.

Improved body literacy can therefore help women to get the support and treatment they need quicker; reducing complex and fragmented care pathways and helping women to advocate for themselves during consultations with healthcare professionals.

Medicine is based on observations and reports from the patient so, becoming aware of your body will make it easier to detect changes and abnormalities, share useful information with a doctor or a nurse and seek help earlier on.

There are simple ways to improve body literacy and the good news is there is now an abundance of technology, products and apps that enable people to access services and information.  

For example, menstrual tracking apps can help women understand their cycle better and detect potentially important changes at an early stage. Beyond tracking menstrual flow and period symptoms, these apps can help support and inform women about their bodies and about what they can do to manage their wellbeing. 

Similarly, digital has a role to play in enabling equal and flexible access to specialist services like mental health. Internet cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) and talking therapies via video provide immediate access to first line mental health treatment through a mobile-ready experience. This fits seamlessly into patients’ daily lives rather than waiting for weekly, fortnightly or monthly appointments. 

In-home diagnostics are also on the increase. In Sweden, Kry provides home testing kits for chlamydia with demand increasing over time as more women are proactively managing their sexual health and wellbeing.

But beyond specific health apps and wearables, the key to improved body literacy for women is having medically approved, relevant and ‘adaptive’ information at their fingertips – available from anywhere and from any device.  

Digital healthcare has already transformed access to services in the wake of the pandemic, but the focus must now be on building  digital into the core of health services.

Digital healthcare tools such as menstrual tracking apps and video consultations powered via devices like Raspberry Pi are vital for body literacy, raising the question of a vpn for raspberry pi to ensure these connections remain private and secure

Technology can help patients learn the language of their bodies and enable healthcare professionals to connect the dots, streamline care pathways and improve efficiency.