October 20189address the neglected crisis of caregiving. It's a business model but, more so, it's a new way of life.My friend Charlotte Yeh from AARP enlightened me, to reimagine how we think about aging and rethink the scientific, clinical predictors of longevity­measures such as exposure to tobacco, high blood pressure, blood cholesterol level and the like. Of course, these are valid and important, but Charlotte opened my eyes to a different set of important measures. One is a sense of purpose. People who have some purposeful activity they pursue in retirement are healthier. The second is social connections. There is a remarkable body of evidence on this, and it turns out that isolation eats away at an individual and has the same effect on health as multiple packs of cigarettes a day! Finally, physical activity! This can range from taking the stairs or walking each day to going to the gym or even remaining a competitive athlete.None of these measures are unique to aging, but to strip away the traditional, clinical science and break it down into these three simple predictors was liberating for me. Of course, the bonus is that connected health can play a role in all three, whether it is participating in the gig economy to drive purpose, being active on social media or FaceTime to keep up social connections, or tracking your steps on a Fitbit. All of these challenges are made easier by modern technology.The second important insight driving new, increasing opportunities for personal health technologies has to do with managing chronic illness. As much as we had all like to stay healthy all our lives and die peacefully at a ripe old age, the fact is we all suffer from system wear and tear and require more illness management as time goes on. We are at the breakpoint as a society, to provide the resources needed to do this. Very soon, we won't have enough healthcare providers and caregivers to tend to the aging population if we only rely on one-to-one care delivery models. We spend a lot of time in The New Mobile Age talking about how to use technology to create one-to-many care delivery models.Particularly exciting is the work of some of early stage companies, paving the way for these new models of care, using emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), voice recognition software, social robots and virtual reality (VR) technologies. With these companies as an example, we must take an innovative approach to address the challenges of keeping older adults engaged, vital and independent. Furthermore, it enhances opportunities to provide technology-enabled care for this rapidly growing population.In fact, at a time when digital and connected health solutions are needed more than ever to stem this `Silver Tsunami,' health tech innovations will not just improve healthcare for older adults, but will create a better and more responsive healthcare system for everyone.The time is now to galvanize our efforts on this important topic. If we continue to insist that the only way to receive healthcare services is one-to-one in a physical location, we will drown in service demand. Technology, properly designed and implemented, can allow us to live a long, healthy life. Technology, properly designed and implemented, can allow us to live a long, healthy life
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