Irish Life has launched a mobile app that measures an individual’s health, as well as providing tips on how to improve it.

Called MyLife, the app encourages users to select and set a fitness, nutrition or lifestyle goal each month. People will earn points when they engage with the app and complete their goal, track their exercise, get sufficient sleep, answer the health coach’s questions and track their weight.

Irish Life customers can redeem these points in the online reward store and premium customers can also claim rewards.

Rewards include discounted Fitbits, cinema tickets and gift vouchers. MyLife users also have access to a health blog with tailored content from independent wellness experts.

The MyLife app is available as a free download on the App Store or the Google Play Store. It was developed in partnership with dacadoo.

In Association with

Irish Life commissioned Behaviours & Attitudes to produce research into the health of the Irish population based on preliminary information from the MyLife app. Key findings of the research show that:

• 13% of all adults take no exercise at all per week;
• 15% say they don’t do anything physical during the working day;
• Only 34% do more than 3.5 hours exercise a week;
• 45% have suffered from a serious medical condition in the past 12 months, while 21% have suffered stress or depression;
• Younger adults are the most unwell of all – particularly in their experience of seasonal illness and mental stress and depression;
• Further research indicates that smoking is still a major concern, with 20% of the adult population smoking an average of 12 cigarettes a day.

Commenting on the MyLife app launch, Prof. Niall Moyna in Dublin City University’s Centre for Preventive Medicine noted that the role of the patient has evolved in the modern era of healthcare.

“It’s well known that individuals who take charge of their health and actively participate in decisions about healthcare delivery have better health outcomes,” Prof. Moyna added.

“MyLife provides individuals with the opportunity to take a more proactive and preventive approach to healthcare, enabling people to understand potential health risks and adjust their lifestyle accordingly before problems arise.”

David Harney, CEO of Irish Life, said that his firm was delighted to be the first Irish insurance company to bring such digital innovation to market. “MyLife gives everyone, not only Irish Life customers, everything that they need to better understand their own personal health with a view to improving it,” he continued.

Photo: Dr. Sarah Kelly (left) and Prof. Niall Moyna (centre), pictured with MyLife ambassadors Kathryn Thomas and Thomas Barr (Pic: Julien Behal)