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Aurum Wellness : An App Helping People Prioritize their Mental Health

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It all started with a thought, “is mental health not as important as our physical health? Then why do we not prioritize it when we should be able to talk about it and get help? Is it fair that treatment should be sought only when extremities like clinical depression or suicidal tendencies set in? If we can provide help in the earlier stages, so much good can be done in the world”

Fresh from graduating from college, Dhwanil Shah and his co-founder Meet Patel knew that they wanted to work in the area of mental and emotional health. Dhwanil’s father has been taking stress management seminars since he was a kid, and it had always inspired him. After noticing the end number of interactions in the seminars, it dawned on him that people in all areas of life have immense stress, anxiety, or some issues that they want to tackle, but they don’t, due to constraints of time, accessibility, pricing etc., and it takes a toll on their mental health to a great degree.

The two of them, along with working in a corporate, started meeting a number of well-known psychologists and counsellors and realized that although there is a small shift happening within the community, there is still a long way to go in making people open up. He says, “There is always room to do more and more in this space. Affordability also is a major issue in seeking help. Most people do not believe that it is worth spending Rs 500-1200 for a 45-minute session, because somehow to them, their anxiety, their stress can take a backseat. We want to change this. What scares us is if we do not communicate about our emotions and mental health, we will ultimately suffer from the physical health front to a big extent. Is that ideal?”

“We conducted a lot of surveys and talked to a lot of people to figure out the pain points and decided to come up with a solution that would address them. The main concerns were accessibility, affordability and continuity. People were just not able to allocate time and money for regular sessions. They usually stop after a couple of sessions and try to resolve their issues on their own, possibly falling in the same trap again. That is how Aurum was born. We wanted Aurum to be an app which provides affordable and expert services for mental, emotional and diet wellness, a new age holistic wellness platform. We wanted to bring more to the table than just anonymous counselling. There is a section for people who still do not want to communicate with counsellors called “program” which using a very tuned algorithm, let them recognize their own problem areas, set their own improvement targets and provides simple, yet effective soothing exercises. One more very important factor in this whole holistic wellness area is that many people have issues like body image problems, Non-communicable chronic issues like diabetes, cholesterol etc which are directly related to their diet. So these diet-related issues eventually take a huge toll on the persons mental health as they are constantly in anxiety about their diet-related problems. So we also have on the platform professional diet counsellors who understand the importance of diet with respect to overall well being and they are trained to provide such quality counselling. We have on board some of the best psychologists and dieticians who are keen to be a part of a team which is so dynamic and ready to do what it takes to help in alleviating these mental and emotional health problems of the masses.”

The statistics for people suffering from holistic wellness issues like stress, anxiety, depression and diet-related issues like Obesity Diabetes, Chronic Depression, Hypertension is alarming.

Some stats which will help put things in perspective:

  • 15% of the Indian population suffers from a mental issue,
  • There are only 2000 estimated psychologists in India,
  • 45% of the working population suffers from high levels of stress.

There just aren’t enough qualified professionals in the traditional network to support these populations. Technology is the way forward, and as such we have done our best to come up with a solution, which can be both effective and appealing at the same time. They have got a very positive response, since the time it has launched. More than 2000 downloads on the play store and almost 100 paying subscribers have validated the fact that there are a lot of people who want to do this, and who find it useful. “We want to keep doing this to help those who want it but are not too willing because of the above-mentioned concerns. We aim to become a top brand in this space that people can trust and come back to whenever they feel like it”.

Hugh Herr: The Leader of the Bionic Age

Founder, Health, Inspiration, Product, Story, Tech Story / By

There have been many scientists whom inventions by mixing the technology and biology has helped the humankind to achieve the things that were unimaginable at some time. The technology has become a helping hand for those who have born with disabilities or have got one due to some mishappening. Hugh Herr is one extraordinary person, who was born like any other fit person, but misfortune hit him bad. Even though the doctors had given up on him, he overcame his disability by inventing the perfect aid for himself, which now is also helping others as well.

Early Life

Herr was born and brought up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in a Christian family. In the beginning, he was not much into studies and found his love for rock climbing at an early age. At the tender age of 8, he climbed the face of Mount Temple (11,627-foot high) and became the best climbers in the United States, when he was just 17.

The Climb

In January 1982, with a fellow climber Jeff Batzer, Hugh caught into a blizzard, while climbing the Mount Washington, in New Hampshire. Due to the snowstorm, the two lost their ways and spent three nights into the Great Gulf, at a temperature of ?29 °C. On the fourth day, the rescue team found and saved them. Spending three days at such a lower temperature caused them major injuries. Due to the frostbite, Hugh was amputated below both of his legs and Jeff got his left leg, fingers of his right hand and the toe on his right foot, amputated.

Hugh Herr
Image Source: bostonmagazine.com

Hugh went through a number of surgeries. The doctors could do everything but give him another pair of legs. Hugh could not climb the mountains anymore and had to be dependent on others. He could not accept that and, his love for mountaineering, made him create a specialized prostheses feet for himself. The prostheses feet helped him not only walk but, were also capable of ascending steep ice walls efficiently.

With time, Hugh managed to create a pair of feet that had toes with a high stiffness that could stand on a small rock of the size of a coin. He even scaled many, difficult to reach, mountains with the help of those titanium feet. Soon, he regained the title of the best climber of the US once again.

Career

Along with making improvements in his prostheses feet, Herr joined college and received a graduate degree in Physics. He then attended MIT, to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering and received a PhD in biophysics from Harvard University.

After obtaining his Doctorate degree, he started working on advanced leg prostheses and orthoses, at MIT. He headed the Biomechatronics research group at the MIT Media Lab. The group focusses on creating more functional and comfortable wearable robotic emulating devices for the disabled people.

Hugh founded BionX Medical Technologies, Inc. also known as iWalk, Inc. In 2006, that create devices that emulate and serve to supplement the human functionality. His company manufactures the computer-controlled assistive devices to aid the disabled persons.

Hugh Herr is a true achiever, and his story is an inspiration for many. He has received numerous awards for his contribution to Science and Technology, including the 13th Annual Heinz Award in 2007, and the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award, in 2005.

Personal Life

Hugh is married to Patricia Ellis Herr, who is an author by profession. The couple has two daughters together. At present, Herr is working as the associate professor in MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences. In 1991, Osius, Alison wrote his biography with title Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr.

Moikit: A preventive tech solution to avoid Kidney Stones

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There has been a sharp rise in Kidney stones (also known as a renal calculus or nephrolith) cases around the world in recent years. Approximately 1 in 11 people in the United States are affected by Kidney stones.

The leading cause of kidney stones is not drinking enough water. Stones commonly have been found in those who drink less than eight to ten glasses of water a day. When there is not enough water to dilute the uric acid (constituent of urine), the pH level of kidneys drops and becomes more acidic. This acidic environment in the kidneys is instrumental in the formation of kidney stones.

What if there is someone who reminds you to drink water and also keep track of your daily water intake. Moikit a Chinese tech startup has come up with a smart water bottle to track your water consumption, compile your health data and keep you hydrated.

Story behind Moikit

In 2012 Xiaoliang Li’s (founder of Moikit) wife got diagnosed with kidney stones due to poor hydration habits. When Xiaoliang studied more about Kidney stones, he learnt that less water intake leads to a host of other diseases and problems in people all over.

Drinking less water means less frequency of urination. Less urination tend minerals that cause kidney stones to settle down in the kidney nephrons and the urinary tract. When one drinks plenty of water, these minerals get flushed out through the urine instead of settling down.

In order to fix this widespread problem of hydration, Xiaoliang brought together a team to create a smart bottle that uses technology to keep people hydrated. Seed the smart water bottle from Moikit is one of the many products that Moikit is developing to solve the problem of hydration.

Seed’s built-in smart water consumption algorithms compute your body’s hydration needs according to water intake, body composition, daily activity level, and outside temperature. With this information, Seed will custom design a water intake schedule that meets your individual needs. Through small vibrations and the LED display, Seed will remind you when you have forgotten to drink enough water.

Seed using inbuilt Bluetooth transfers your water intake data to Moikit app on your smartphone. Seed also integrates seamlessly with third-party health apps and devices.