Several health and fitness apps have been developed to help healthy-conscious individuals keep track of their health status. Now, a new mobile app has been designed to help alcohol drinkers know when it's time to stop.
Doctors in Singapore have designed a new app that lets individuals track every shot of booze consumed in a single sitting. The app, called "The Alcohol Tracker," works by letting alcohol drinkers log their daily or weekly consumption of beer, wine or any liquor. When the user reaches a daily or weekly limit, the app will notify and inform the user that the limit has been reached.
Details of the new app was described in the journal BMJ Innovations. "The Alcohol Tracker" is available in iOS and Android platforms.
"Many smartphone apps available in the market to manage drinking are not well-informed by clinical evidence and are largely for entertainment," said Institute of Mental Health's Melvyn Zhang, the app's developer.
The app was also developed to counteract the use of alcohol consumption-promoting apps like "Let's Get Wasted!," which features drinking games, as reported in Live Science.
Since each type of alcoholic beverage contains different levels of alcohol, the app uses "units" to measure alcohol consumption. The alcohol units are based on the guidelines set by the National Health Services (NHS) in the U.K., together with the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatment, as reported in Medical Daily.
NHS recommendations state that women should consume no more than two to three units of alcohol per day. For men, it is recommended that alcohol consumption is limited to three to four units per day.
The app was not designed to discourage alcohol consumption, but rather, help consumers become aware of their alcohol limits. The app features several tools such as alcohol helpline and psychological therapies. The app also sends out questionnaires to users to let them assess their drinking habits.
