Instant Gratification
The Accelerator and Accelerant of Health and Wellness
Instant gratification has changed consumerism globally; a click of a button gets our food delivered to our doorstep. Companies such as Amazon built their enterprise on the basic desires of humans, our need for immediate results. Every time you turn on the TV, open a Men’s Magazine, advertisements grab our attention, making promises that feel unrealistic.
Here is a hint, in health and wellness, if it sounds too good to be true, it is almost always just that.
After only a few days, when I have worked with patients, they feel discouraged because their blood sugar is not “fixed,” they have not lost weight, and they feel that the lifestyle changes they have made are worthless and not working. They end up trying a medication, getting more instantaneous results, such as more time in range, and would instead take the easier “quicker” pathway.
I want to be very clear, there is nothing wrong with the proper use of medications, and a combination of medications and lifestyle management is the ideal solution for many.
This scenario is more a description of the expectations that consumers of healthcare, also known as patients, have.
Instant gratification has accelerated health and wellness toward remote support and offerings. The merger of Teladoc and Livongo shows how a clinician being a click of a button away and receiving proactive support are what the consumer wants.
More and more healthcare companies use Alexa, Siri, Google Home, Apple Watch, and many other easily accessible devices to support the consumer through synchronous and asynchronous offerings. This immediate satisfaction is accelerating the adoption of Telehealth, Remote Patient Monitoring, and Care Navigation.
On the flip side, instant gratification is also an accelerant of health and wellness. The natural human desire to see instant results can overwhelm the consumer. Many consumer-focused health and wellness services make grandeur promises, weight loss without exercise, or lifestyle change.
It is almost impossible to read the fine print of a commercial. If you do not have a magnifying glass, the magazine ad is practically invisible; the television commercial is so fast you may get three words into the fine print before the next commercial begins.
Further, I have seen many untrained individuals offering personal training services and nutritional advice with the pandemic. Pyramid sales programs in the health and wellness industry are also running amuck.
The rapid growth of untrained professionals, wellness offerings based on pseudoscience, and the viral nature of misinformation, have created an accelerant that could quickly ignite and destroy the growth occurring in health and wellness.
Health and wellness are at a defining moment; it is up to professionals like myself to speak in support of validated solutions and offerings. It is also up to the health and wellness community to provide education and support that empowers the consumer and patient to change their health.
Health and wellness are not as easy as a click of a button, but support and resources are. We must improve access through immediate gratification, such as Telehealth, remote support, and automated care navigation. This is the first step to saving health and wellness from the accelerant that plagues the industry.