An evaluation of almost 400 studies with a total of 164,000 people shows that fitness trackers, pedometers and smartwatches motivate people to exercise more and lose weight. This is reported by a research team in the journal The Lancet Digital Health.
People who wear wearables to measure their activity took about 1800 more steps a day, which is an increase of 40 minutes of walking. The people lost around one kilogram of body weight over a period of five months. That doesn’t sound like a huge success at first, but Prof Carol Maher from the University of South Australia explains why appearances are deceptive: “The average person gains around half a kilogram in weight a year. That’s why the loss of one kilogram in five months is significant, especially considering that two-thirds of Australians are overweight or obese.”
Between 2014 and 2020, the number of activity trackers sold worldwide increased by almost 1500 percent, reaching a turnover of 2.8 billion US dollars in 2020. Aside from the additional physical activity and weight loss observed here, there is evidence that fitness trackers also help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes and other conditions, as well as depression and anxiety through an increase in physical activity to improve. But there are also critical voices who question the effectiveness and accuracy of the devices and fear that they promote obsessive behavior and eating disorders.
Which: DOI 10.1016/S2589-7500(22)00111-X