Want to Increase Your Physical Activity? Fitness Trackers May Be the Best Way

• Researchers say people living with diabetes, heart disease, and obesity can increase their physical activity levels by using fitness trackers.
• Experts say the trackers can provide accountability and help people at all levels motivate themselves.
• They advise people not to fixate on the tracker numbers but instead use them as an overall guide.

Wearing fitness trackers can help people with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease boost physical activity levels.

That’s the finding from an analysis published this week in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers reviewed 38 randomized clinical trials with 4,203 participants. They reported that interventions with wearable fitness trackers were associated with significantly increased physical activity levels after approximately 15 weeks.

Devices such as pedometers or trackers that count steps were associated with greater levels of physical activity in about 70 percent of the studies examined.

Even with the noticeable improvements, participants still didn’t meet minimum physical activity recommendations highlighted in the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and in other recommendations from global governments and agencies.

Health and Human Services officials recommend that adults engage in at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking or fast dancing, every week.