The exponential growth in the use of mobile health (mHealth) apps is mind-boggling. “In 2016 alone, downloads totaled 3.2 billion. This accounts for over half of all mobile phone users.” As to how much health and fitness data has been accumulated on these apps is anyone’s guess. This is because no mechanism exists to collect and tabulate this kind of data and have it available on one platform.

But this is not the only problem besetting the mHealth industry. The examples below are issues the space is grappling with:

Privacy:

In ecosystems where fitness and wellness data are available, big players like Apple and Microsoft can hold and store people’s information and do what they like with it.

Ownership:

The aforementioned issue bleeds over into the issue of agency. Who owns the data? Who decides how the data is used? And if or when at all the data should be used are grave concerns for the consumer. Presently, it is the big players who decide this, and hence, the individual has no say when it comes to ownership of his/her health/wellness information. So, for example, if your data is stored in the Microsoft ecosystem; Microsoft can do as it pleases with that data, which of course may include profiting from it. Question; is it right for a third party to take my data and do with it as they please?

Incentives:

There is also the issue of reward. Why, someone may ask, should I download and keep data on something I will not be rewarded for? If I want to check my progress I can easily check my weight on a scale or write down how much, for example, I can bench press over a three month period without having to be bogged down with an app. And what of my blood pressure and heart rate? Surely the doctor can take care of that. This means that even the 52% of mobile phone users who have mHealth apps may not be using them.

In summary, we have on our hands a fitness/wellness data collection problem. All the aforementioned problems stem from the fact that the market is so segmented that there is no way to bring consumers and health and wellness fitness practitioners together within a decentralized P2P ecosystem that can solve these issues and compensate the user.

This is where Lympo, a blockchain-powered health and wellness ecosystem, operating out of Lithuania, comes in. Being acutely aware of these problems, they have come up with a novel idea to address them. They have created a platform that promises to reward users “for healthy lifestyle activities by giving them the ability to earn tokens called LYM token, which the user can then use for other wellness-related activities and services.”

That is right. People will be paid to get healthy, which is the complete antithesis of this present system where people pay huge sums for their well-being. How will an Ordinary 9 to 5 worker Benefit?

Ownership:

Lympo, by applying blockchain technology to health and wellness, is playing its role in upending the present lop-sided approach to data accumulation by respecting the fact that it belongs to the individual, and hence he/she should own and control it. Therefore, by circumventing these fitness app offering middlemen, Lympo will put the power where it belongs, in the hands of the individual, whose blood, sweat and tears produced the data.

Privacy and Security:

A hallmark of the blockchain is the use of smart contracts. This trustless system is governed by math. Given the choice between human error and that of algorithms is a no-brainer. The blockchain is bullet-proof. Lympo has made this technology accessible to the person seeking health. And in so doing will make the present system of data collection obsolete. Lympo, however, goes further and adds a human element. “To ensure the confidentiality of the data, or prevent data from unauthorized disclosure everything will be encrypted. Lympo will also limit access to the database and conduct periodic checkups and backups.”

Video Summary

Use-case

Marcy is a mother of two who suffers from depression because she gained 25 kg over 5 years. She has been taking medication to treat her illness. Her doctor tells her that she will have to depend on these pills her entire life. The side-effects are horrendous. She does not want to continue so she visits an alternative care specialist who tells her that exercising can help to alleviate her malady.

The specialist has been using Lympo and tells her about it. Marcy does her research and decides to try. She opens a Lympo digital fitness wallet which she connects to a fitness app called Runkeeper, and starts walking 200 meters every morning. Gradually she increases the distance. Elated by the number of tokens she is earning, Marcy ups the ante by participating in a half marathon announced on the Lympo site.

Through it all, she has shed most of the baby weight and has earned enough tokens to continue her healthy lifestyle.
Aware that food is as much a part of getting healthy as exercising. Marcy has consulted a dietitian whom she met on the platform. He puts her on a program where he is able to track her progress. Therefore, concerning both the running and the diet, Marcy is able to keep tabs on how well the changes she has made with this new lifestyle are going.

The dietitian has also gained rewards from advertising his goods on the platform.

Six months after starting Lympo, Marcy has lost most of the weight. Her doctor has reduced the number of pills she is taking, and also the number of visits she is making to him. Therefore, she has cut the amount of money she is spending on health care.

The Team

Before investing in any ICO it is prudent to VET the team. Having researched these individuals, I can conclude that this is an all-star one that boasts decades of combined experience. Their expertise is deep and varied. From fitness to technology to finance to communication, they exude a competence that is not only restricted to the blockchain.

An example of their competence lies in their foresight. Presently, Lympo has 500+ fitness professionals, but this number will grow with their expansion into the USA and Australia. This goes hand in hand with their proposal to use “LYM tokens to invest in innovative data-driven companies and hence aid in growing the ecosystem.”

Conclusion:

Solving the data collection problem is not the only way in which Lympo will upend this present system. In fact, it will go further and overturn an existing paradigm. One can foresee a more healthy planet when Lypmo goes mainstream.
The rate of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially in the developed world, has reached a critical level. According to the WHO, NCDs kill on average 40 million people annually. Cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory illnesses, and diabetes account for 80% of them.

The aforementioned diseases fall into the subcategory of what we call lifestyle diseases. Not only are they debilitating, they are expensive to treat. In the US for example, they are set to take a huge bite out of the healthcare budget.

As to why it is that avoidable illnesses continue to afflict so many continues to baffle a lot of policymakers. For Lympo, however, this issue is not very perplexing. They, I am sure, know that we have all been there before; from paying huge sums for a gym we visit once per year, to abandoning that crash diet mid way through to not even trying at all is quite common.

Lympo is aware that rewarding people to maintain their health and well-being can act as a motivating factor, which will push people to take care of themselves and own what is produced from their efforts.

The reward for everyone is that lifestyle diseases will be reduced thus relieving the burdens on the health care system and ensure everyone profits from participating.

Additional Resources

https://lympo.io
https://lympo.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/whitepaper.pdf?v5
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2655965
https://medium.com/@lympo.io
https://www.linkedin.com/company/lympo/
https://www.facebook.com/Lympo.io/
https://twitter.com/Lympo_io

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