Smartphone fitness apps and wearable activity trackers increase physical activity levels

Smartphone fitness apps and wearable activity trackers help increase physical activity levels, find review and analysis of aggregated data of available evidence.

The review published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The magnitude of the effect is small to moderate, but it may be worth offering them on prescription to motivated patients, given the importance for health of increasing daily physical activity by any amount. , say the researchers.

Globally, more than a quarter of adults are not achieving recommended levels of physical activity. Physical inactivity is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is estimated to cost billions of dollars each year.

Some of the most effective strategies for increasing physical activity include behavior change techniques, such as self-monitoring and feedback, which smartphone apps and wearable activity trackers can provide.

Smartphone ownership is widespread, with activity trackers and fitness apps used by around one-third of adults in the US and UK. But reviews to date of these apps and trackers have not produced consistent results. They also did not focus on healthy adults and advanced technology.

To address these knowledge gaps, researchers scanned research databases for relevant studies published between January 2007 and January 2020, involving healthy young people aged 18 to 65 with no long-term conditions.

They found 35 suitable comparative studies, involving a total of 7,454 people, of whom 2,107 (28%) were women. The intervention period lasted between 2 and 40 weeks, an average of 13 weeks.

Pooling data from 28 of these studies showed that, compared to other approaches, smartphone apps or activity trackers increased physical activity by 1,850 steps per day on average. Seven additional analyzes of the data also showed that smartphone apps and activity trackers significantly increased levels of physical activity.

Apps and tracking programs that also included text messaging involving prompts and signals, as well as custom features, were more effective. And some things, like goal setting, planning, and difficult tasks, were significantly associated with higher levels of effectiveness.

The researchers recognize that the included studies varied in design and methods, while the quality ranged from low to moderate. And given the relatively small number of women involved, the findings may not be broadly applicable to both genders.

Nonetheless, interventions using smartphone apps or activity trackers appear promising from a clinical and public health perspective, leading to a significant increase in the number of steps of 1,850 steps / day, they write.

“These results are important for public health according to recent evidence showing that any physical activity, regardless of its intensity, is associated with a lower risk of mortality in a dose-response manner and that an increase of 1,700 steps / day is significantly associated with lower death rates. . “

Getting users past the initial newness phase will depend on the quality of the experience, overall usefulness, and the ability to integrate with other devices and services, they add.

But they point out: “Given the wide and growing reach of smartphones, even modest improvements in physical activity can produce large effects at the population level.”

And they conclude that their results will likely be useful to clinicians, “who can prescribe apps and trackers as part of a shared decision-making process to people who seem ready to make behavior changes.”