Texting for health

Much of the buzz over mobile health interventions seems to be about how we can use an ever-growing variety of shiny new smartphone apps and sensors to better manage our health.

But texting, that old-school technology, may deserve some of that spotlight, too.

Getting texts with motivating and informative messages led patients with coronary heart disease to make behavior changes like exercising more and smoking less, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. By the end of the six-month study, patients who had received the text messages had reduced their cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index.

Read more from NPR.