A Proposed Application for Controlling Overweight and Obesity within the Framework of the Internet of Things

Abstract

Currently, overweight and obesity are two problems for global health that affect people’s quality of life. The Internet of Things (IoT) has raised the possibility of digital interaction taken to another level. This paper proposes design requirements to develop a mobile application that contributes to the control of overweight or obesity under the IoT approach, focusing on some approaches that currently exist in home-oriented health with the help of existing mobile applications. The idea of this concept is the presence of the environment of various interconnected things or objects with sensors, networking, and processing technologies integrating and working together to provide an environment in which smart services are taken to the end users. The IoT allows monitoring people in real time and analyzing information provided by mobile applications and smart devices (wearables) they have, through techniques of artificial intelligence that allow the identification of variables criticism and the generation of medical recommendations. The medical assistance model will change from the existing hospital-centric model that we commonly know to a totally home-centred health one, in which there will be less work intensity and operational cost. The home health service allows the use of IoT technology, very often called Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT).