New research shows that over time, text message reminders may help women to remember to take their daily dose of the pill…
Forgetting to take an oral contraceptive pill is a common mistake. So US researchers decided to use text reminders to see if they would help women remember to take their daily birth control pill more easily.
Experts have found that nearly 1 out of every 5 of the 3.5 million unplanned pregnancies result from missing the daily dose of birth control. Even forgetting to take the pill for one day can result in a pregnancy despite the type of oral contraceptive one is taking.
Given that missing that daily dose of birth control pills seems to be so common, researchers from the Boston Medical Center decided to explore whether a daily reminder message - in the form of a text message - sent to the woman's phone, would be an effective way to remind more women to take their pill.
Scientists split contraceptive users into two groups - one that received a pre-programmed text message reminder to take their birth control pill and another group who did not receive a text message reminder but were encouraged to use their own tips to help them remember.
Researchers discovered over time, that the text message group did perform better by remembering to take their pill over the non-text message group.
The researchers suggested that people could also use their mobile phones to set themselves ‘don’t forget to exercise’ reminders, or alarms when going out to eat to encourage them to make healthier choices in restaurants.
Why not program your own reminder and have an alert message sent to your phone every day?
What are you own little tricks for remembering to take your Pill? Share your ideas below!
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