| October 2, 2017
| 10:09 AM
Aging and longevity are a hot topic, given the demographic shifts that are occurring worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2015 and 2050, the world's population over 60 years of age will nearly double from 12 percent to 22 percent. At the same time, people are living longer, which can pose a challenge for corporations, governments and individuals.
As a result, we are seeing a shift in how organizations are addressing an aging society. There is a more evolved view of aging, and a growing role for digital health and wellness in our daily lives, including advances in personalized medicine. The lines between work and retirement are blurring, and the number of younger adults available to care for older family members is dwindling, along with the number of healthcare providers. Enter connected health.
The 2017 Connected Health Conference tackles aging head on, exploring how healthy aging and connected health technologies and tools can support health across the decades. Our theme for the Conference, The Connected Life Journey: Shaping Health and Wellness for Every Generation, reimagines health and wellbeing throughout the life cycle. We will hear from the preeminent thought leaders, market leaders and innovators who are reinventing aging, and learn about advances in connected health technologies that will help us better manage health, inspire wellness and combat things like depression and isolation among older adults. Applying these tools, we can help people remain engaged, vital and contributing to society in their later years.
So what does a connected life journey look like? Connected health can have an important impact throughout the health continuum, from our youngest to our most senior citizens. A number of key drivers are critical to this aging revolution – to create healthy longevity. These factors include innovative approaches, novel collaborations and the proliferation of new technologies and products being developed – from health and wellness trackers and artificial intelligence to robots and even toys – to help people live longer, healthier lives.
And the priorities for healthy longevity? It really comes down to empowering individuals to better manage their health and wellness, starting early and maintaining a healthy lifestyle as they grow older.
For example, there is great emphasis on staying healthy at every age and a shift from treating disease to prevention of lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Connected health technologies, such as activity trackers, sensors and wearables are important tools that can help people stay motivated and engaged in their health.
It's also clear that individuals want to remain independent and living at home for as long as possible. Connected health tools and personal health devices can help address challenges of aging, including mobility, functional decline and frailty. Remote monitoring technologies allow healthcare providers to monitor and, when necessary, intervene in real-time, to help their patients better manage chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart failure. And, artificial intelligence voice and virtual reality technologies are helping to address issues of isolation and loneliness, providing a sense of belonging and connecting people across generations.
These tools are also helping our aging population maintain important contact with their family, social network and community, and can give older adults a sense of purpose that is an important part of achieving healthy longevity.
Personal connected health technologies are helping us live a better, healthier life at all ages. In order to be successful, connected health solutions must be personalized – and designed specifically for our aging population – connect us with others and our social network, and integrate seamlessly with our daily lives. At the Connected Health Conference in Boston, we will learn more, see more and understand better how connected health can achieve healthy longevity.
It is a discussion that is vital to the future of healthcare and society, and one that you don’t want to miss. Join us in October to define the road ahead for The Connected Life Journey.
Access more information about the 2017 Connected Health Conference here.
