Hey HN!
We’re James, Felipe, and Bernard, founders of Mighty Health (https://mightyhealth.com/gift), a personal coach that helps people over 50 become healthier through exercise, nutrition, and wellness.
With Father’s Day coming up, we thought some of you might be in the same position as we are, worrying about our parents and loved ones, wanting to do more to help out in these uncertain times.
A few years ago, my dad was rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery. Though he luckily survived, this was quite the wakeup call—he had to change his lifestyle habits immediately, or else he’d have to deal with painful, worsening chronic issues for the rest of his life.
These changes—exercise, nutrition, sleep, and reducing stress—are hard as is, but even more so for folks over 50. Most wellness apps are designed for motivated millennials, making them feel less relatable to older adults. They don’t take into account evolving health needs, joint issues, or technical limitations. Personal trainers and nutritionists are expensive long-term and often inaccessible. And because our older loved ones are at higher risk of COVID complications due to their age, they won’t be able to return to gyms for the foreseeable future.
That’s why we started Mighty Health. Everything is designed intentionally for people over 50:
1. Coaching: A personal coach keeping them motivated through SMS, providing a real human relationship
2. Exercise: At home workout videos that are easy on the joints, led by top-rated certified trainers
3. Nutrition: A personalized plan and grocery list designed by cardiologists for heart health
4. Reminders: Preventative health checkup notifications (based on their age and gender) and medication reminders
5. Celebrations: Texts to family members about milestones in the program so you can celebrate together
Our app is simple to set up and use, accommodating large and high contrast text. We chose SMS (through Twilio/Front) for coaching because it’s a more familiar medium, like texting with your family. We integrate with Apple Healthkit and Google Fit, as well as a number of cellular blood pressure cuffs and scales.
Dr. Bernard Chang, our medical co-founder, is the Vice Chair of Research at Columbia University’s Department of Emergency Medicine and leads our team of physicians, trainers, and coaches who develop our plans and content.
These plans are optimized for health goals specific to people over 50, such as losing weight to prevent chronic diseases, becoming stronger/decreasing joint pain, or reducing their risk of heart disease. On average, 85% of our users stick to our plans for at least 12 weeks and lose ~10 pounds.
We’d love for you to check out our website at https://mightyhealth.com/gift and are eager to hear your feedback and ideas below. Feel free to reach out directly at james@mightyhealth.com as well!
1. The enemy of healthy living is social interaction that is nearly always alcohol and food indulgence. Either your user has to find new friends (like an alcoholic develops a cohort of non-drinking friends,) or they have to acquire the strength of purpose to abstain while still being social. Success here is very dependent on self-esteem....a distinctly non-technical aspect not directly addressed by the app.
2. Preparing your next meal BEFORE YOU ARE HUNGRY is critical to success. This could be addressed by subscribing to a pre-packaged frozen meal service, or, by consistently doing grocery shopping and meal prep in advance. The latter takes planning, discipline, and effort. Lack of planning is frequently the reason for eating excess or unhealthy food.
3. Eating to self-soothe is prevalent. Learning other sources of pleasure or gratification is crucial to sustained success. For example, I always want second helpings even though I know I have already had enough. This because my stomach needs an extra 15 minutes to tell my brain that I am satisfied. To cope, I set a 15 minute timer and for that 15 minutes, I walk away from the food area, sit in a comfy chair and do something pleasant with my phone, such as read fashion news or text with a friend. A sine qua non of healthy eating is having a list of other pleasant things to do when you feel the urge to eat when not hungry.
4. Many overweight people will only succeed in the transition to a healthy life if they have in person contact with others that support and acknowledge their struggle. Either a 12-step meeting or a FaceTime call with their coach is vital so that your user can visualize that person's face when the user is at the moment of decision to binge or not.
5. If you take away food and drink as the emotional coping tool, you have to replace it with something that is not self-destructive. Your users have to be ready when emotional crisis comes when, then more than ever, they will feel entitled to eat or drink anything within convenient reach. For this reason, I am unable to keep ready-to-eat foods in my house.....cereal, cheese, nut butters, dessert, snacks, bread of any kind. I do keep fresh apples and oranges, but that is it. Your user must develop other methods of dealing with crisis.....journaling, phone a friend, or just giving themselves permission to withdraw, lay down and rest if possible. Since I have momentum on my side, an activity that 100% occupies the mind, like a spin class, is my helper that enables me to muddle through. Meditation is another good tool.
I have come to believe that lack of self-care has much more to do with emotional self-regulation and self esteem than it does with lack of knowledge on sleep, exercise, and nutrition.
However, for those who suddenly get motivated by a health scare, the knowledge and guidance in your app is like a welcome breath of life.