Do We Really Need Another App? And What's Your Health Data Really Worth (££)?

Do We Really Need Another App?

How many health apps are on your phone? How many trackers, reminders and notifications are telling you how many steps you've taken, how well you've slept or what you should be eating?

And now, with AI increasingly able to analyse our health information, we have more data available to us than ever.

At the Health Optimisation Summit, during Dr Saima Ajaz’s talk, a speaker mentioned that our personal health data could be worth around £200,000 per person. That certainly made me stop and think about just how much health information we now generate — and how valuable it might be.

I sometimes wonder: is more information always what we need?

We already know when we've had a bad night's sleep. We know when our energy is low. We notice when our clothes are getting tighter. We know when we're stressed, overwhelmed or not feeling like ourselves.

Sometimes we don't need another app to tell us.

Sometimes we need someone to talk to.

What happens when we have time to talk?

Modern life can be busy and isolating. We can have hundreds of contacts on our phones and still feel that nobody has really listened to us.

Healthcare appointments tend to be short, and technology can provide useful information. But neither can always give us the space to stop, reflect and talk through what is really happening in our lives.

That's where I believe one-to-one coaching has a place.

Not because coaches have all the answers.

But because sometimes being listened to is the beginning of finding your own answers.

It's more than information

In coaching, we don't simply want to know what you eat, how much you exercise or how many hours you sleep.

We want to understand you.

What's happening in your life? What is draining your energy? What have you tried before? What matters to you? What would you actually like to change?

Having the time and space to talk can help you make sense of what's going on and decide what you want to do next.

Then, rather than creating another huge list of things to change, we can work together to find realistic steps that fit your life.

And importantly, you don't have to do it alone.

Someone in your corner

One of the things I love about coaching is the accountability.

Not someone checking whether you've succeeded or failed with your goal that week.

But someone who remembers what you wanted to achieve. Someone you can talk to when life gets in the way.

Someone who can help you rethink things when your original plan isn't working.

And someone who celebrates the wins with you — including the small ones that are easy to overlook.

Technology can give us information.

But information isn't the same as connection.

Perhaps, in a world where we can measure almost everything, one of the most valuable things we can give ourselves is something much simpler:

time to talk, someone to listen, and support to help us move forward.

Sometimes, what we need isn't another notification.