Hands up if you’d rather go for brunch than spin class? Enjoy a kueh over a kale salad? We feel you. Motivation when it comes to working out and eating right can sometimes be hard to come by. We also have to appreciate that not everyone has access to a personal trainer or coach when it comes to fitness and nutrition support. Which is why the free and newly launched LumiHealth app on the Apple Watch is set to change the game.
Whether you’re a fallen gym bunny or are just wanting to reboot your health, your wellness journey just got a whole lot more fun and fuss-free with LumiHealth. Here’s how the first-of-its-kind program designed by Singapore’s Health Promotion Board in conjunction with Apple is set to give SingPass holders a holistic health boost with its games, health challenges, lifestyle hacks and rewards—all personalised to your specific needs and goals.
Baby steps matter: hit those small goals and keep going
Beyond the cute graphics and fun challenges, the programme was designed with leading physicians and public health experts with the aim of boosting your physical and mental health.
“We want to help Singaporeans adopt healthy habits through LumiHealth’s personalised reminders, programs, activity coaching, and incentives,” says Zee Yoong Kang, chief executive officer of Singapore’s Health Promotion Board. “We hope that over time, these small steps that people take, will become healthy habits that they will continue to sustain in their everyday life.”
“LumiHealth harnesses the power of Apple Watch to encourage and empower users to adopt healthy habits. The game design, the content, and the rewards are brought together in a unique, personalised health program that we hope many Singaporeans embrace on their journey to good health,” shares Myoung Cha, of Apple Health Initiatives.
Start small, stay consistent. “Meeting small goals gives us the satisfaction, confidence, and self-believe to keep at it, and that builds momentum,” according to a message on LumiHealth when we signed up.
Aside from the physical and mental benefits to staying active, each action goes towards helping you earn rewards of up to $380 in HPB e-vouchers in your quest for better health. These vouchers can be redeemed at participating merchants including Cold Storage, Jason’s, Watson’s, Tangs and more.
Take a personalised approach to your health
Within the LumiHealth app, you’ll travel through worlds with an intergalactic explorer who will guide you through tasks that are personalised based on your age, gender, and weight. These include weekly activity goals that can be met through a myriad of workouts, from walking to swimming, yoga, high-intensity interval training, and more.
Fans of the Apple Watch know it’s so much more than just a smart watch, offering you the ability to track your movement, standing, and workout goals, showing metrics in real time. Ever the helpful health partner, you can even track your Blood Oxygen Sensor and App to measure the oxygen saturation, indicating how well oxygenated blood is being delivered throughout your body. Another breakthrough includes the safety-led Fall Function, alerting emergency services if a hard fall has been detected; and the electrocardiogram or ECG function, which monitors your heart health, tracking and alerting you of unusually high or low heart rates and irregular heart rhythms so you can take action with your doctor.
And now, the Apple Watch, Apple Health app, and LumiHealth work in sync to help you build healthy habits through personalised reminders, programs, activity coaching, and incentives. LumiHealth will integrate with the data that you choose to share from your Apple Health app in order to provide you with a more personalised experience. You can even choose to enter and share symptoms with LumiHealth. Over time, the program will use that information to become more relevant and personalised to you.
And as you log in every workout or mindful moment, fret not. All user data is encrypted to protect your privacy, with data being stored in a highly secure system that is fully compliant with Singapore’s data privacy and security laws. You can rest assured that no data from LumiHealth will ever be sold or shared for marketing purposes.
Sleep and mindfulness coaching, without the woo woo
Not all challenges are physical. Recognising that mental health and wellbeing are part of the wellness matrix, challenges on the LumiHealth app even include taking a mindful minute of calm and relaxation on the Apple Watch’s Breathe function to gain points.
And if you’re one who enjoys scrolling on your phone in bed, beyond just tracking sleep, Apple Watch works with your iPhone to create a bedtime schedule, nudging you when it’s time to start your wind down ritual so that you can develop better sleep hygiene and meet your sleep goals.
Never miss a health screen again
To help you stay on top of your health, you’ll also be reminded to go for recommended health screenings and vaccinations, again, based on your age and other factors specific to your profile.
“LumiHealth users are sent health reminders based on their demographics which they input, such as age and gender, when they opt-in to the programme,” says Zee. Some examples include seniors who are “introduced to strength, balance and flexibility exercises to help prevent falls and tips to increase their daily protein intake.
“Participants will be reminded to go for influenza vaccinations during the flu season in Singapore. Health screening and immunisation reminders will be sent based on their age and gender,” says Zee, “and those above 40 years old will be encouraged to share their Diabetes Risk Assessment results, and where necessary, will be nudged to go for follow up and adopt healthier lifestyles.”
LumiHealth is now available on the Apple App store. All you need to take advantage of the free health coach-on-your-wrist is a SingPass, an iPhone running iOS 13 or later and Apple Watch running watchOS 6 or later, and be over the age of 17 in order to use the LumiHealth app and participate in the programme.
