I had heart bypass surgery a few years back. I’m a type 2 diabetic. The last few years have been about transitioning into a healthier lifestyle. Working on a computer and browsing food porn on INSTAGRAM doesn’t help. But years before, at a dinner in LAS VEGAS, a bunch of friends and colleagues went around the table to share what they were excited about in the tech space. My friend JAMES MURDOCH said “THE QUANITIFIED SELF.” I had never heard of the term. As WIKIPEDIA explains, it “refers both to the cultural phenomenon of self-tracking with technology and to a community of users and makers of self-tracking tools who share an interest in 'self-knowledge through numbers.'” I’ve written about my health here many times. In fact, it saved my life after my surgery went bad. You never know who reads REDEF, and many reached out with advice and help. Last summer I was in ASPEN, COLORADO where I did my first mountain hike since surgery. Actually, it was my first mountain hike ever. I posted some images on social media. Quite proud of the milestone. One person that saw it was APPLE’s vice president of Communications, STEVE DOWLING. He’s someone I’ve known digitally for years. A good man. He sent me the APPLE WATCH as a gift. He was happy for me and he wanted me to wear and use it in good health. And I have. I walk more to reach my 15,000 step goal each day. I use the ECG reader to make sure my heart rhythms are normal. Especially when I'm having some TRUMP atrocity-laced anxiety attack that feels like my heart is going to burst ALIEN-like out of my chest. When I see the resting heartbeat at 68-70 bpm I know I’m ok. I can hold my breathe often when writing or in suspense. The watch reminds me to breathe. I'm at my desk a lot of the day. The watch reminds me to stand up and stretch. Even if these things are not hyper-accurate, don’t know or not, they help me be directionally correct. It’s a game now. Such a game, that now that I share my activity with my girlfriend, out of competition or shame, I'm pushing myself to meet my goals daily because of course, I can’t let LIZ beat me in steps. Technology is a great tool to help me live better. And the new Apple Watch Series 5 is making even more strides. And the app ecosystem is expanding. I can track my blood sugar. Or food intake. Meditate. Well, I don't meditate yet, but there is always tomorrow. What else am I using to improve? I take medications and supplements, but I often would forget to take them. Or even sort them. I don’t have the patience of my brother-in-law JACQUES who sits with these 60-day pill sorters and diligently coordinates them monthly. I switched to PILL PACK, now owned by AMAZON. Each month I get a reel of packs that have all my medicine sorted. By time. 7am, 8am, 12pm, 7pm, 10pm. The packs detail what medicine and dosage. The app sends me iOS alerts on the phone and the watch to remind me at the exact time. I woke up to a fasting blood glucose level of 87 mg/dL this morning. Very good. Great. Down from 350 mg/dL 4 years ago before surgery. The killer tech for this? FREESTYLE LIBRE. It’s a sensor I easily inject into the back of my arm every 14 days and with a swipe of the iPhone, it reads my levels. The sensor uses a thin, flexible filament inserted just under the skin to measure glucose every minute. I check it 15 times a day without pricking my finger. No more blood. Tells me if I’m in range and I share the data to their cloud service so my doctors can monitor. Since I’ve been wearing it my levels have been in the range 95% of the time. Why? I’ve learned how foods and timing affect my glucose. I am so excited about this area. Health is wealth. And the more technology can be used to demystify illness and symptoms and help you stay on track, the better we are for it. We use WAZE to get from A to B. I use technology to make sense of my health and data to improve it. What do you use?... Happy Birthday to ALLISON WALLACH, KIRK IWANOWSKI, LAUREN COHEN STARR, and PAUL HYLAND.