Of those who did track a health behavior, roughly half indicated that tracking changed their overall approach to maintaining their health (ibidem). In 2012, a survey showed that 69% of adults in the United States tracked at least one health behavior using some sort of tracking device, and 14% of US citizens owned a specialized activity tracker of some sort. Such activity trackers are an increasingly popular way to promote physical activity. Furthermore, dashboard applications often encourage (but hardly ever enforce) a range of secondary BCTs: goal setting, the review of behavioral goals and their outcomes, and social comparison and support. The information thus gathered can be applied by automatically providing the user of the device with behavior change techniques (BCTs) from the monitoring cluster : timely feedback on their own behavior and the possibility to self-monitor behavior and its outcomes. In recent years, numerous interactive and mobile technology solutions to encourage physical activity have arrived in the form of devices that are able to directly monitor our physical activity through a range of sensors. Supporting our self-monitoring abilities by providing us with timely and relevant feedback on our behavior has proven a successful strategy to disrupt the automaticity of deeply engrained habitual behaviors such as inactivity and make them available for conscious scrutiny. It is not surprising, therefore, that people tend to overestimate their physical activity. This lack of conscious scrutiny is one of the main reasons sedentary habits are difficult to change we are not always adept in monitoring our own behavior, especially not when this behavior is executed unintentionally. Choosing physical activity over inactivity tends to occur outside awareness. Unfortunately, for many people, their physical activity is a deeply engrained habit. īehavior change toward more physical activity might greatly benefit our health. Unfortunately, many people fail to meet these criteria. The American Heart Association endorses 10,000 steps a day or 30 min of moderate-intensity physical activity (eg, brisk walking) for at least 5 days a week as guidelines to improve health and reduce health risk. Too little physical activity plays a role in a range of debilitating conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type II, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and some forms of cancer. One of the biggest threats to our health is physical inactivity, which is considered to cause 6% of deaths globally. The Effect of Activity Tracker Usage on Physical Activity
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