New findings from researchers at University of South Australia reiterate what many people around the world believe: fitness trackers, pedometers and smart watches motivate us to exercise more and lose weight. Wearable activity trackers encourage us to walk up to 40 minutes more each day (approximately 1800 more steps), resulting in an average 1 kilo weight loss over five months.
Researchers from the University of South Australia reviewed almost 400 studies involving 164,000 people across the world using wearable activity trackers (WATs) to monitor their physical activity.
Their findings, published in Lancet Digital Health, underline the value of low-cost interventions to tackle a growing epidemic of health conditions partially caused by a lack of exercise, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, cancers and mental illness.
The overall results showed that wearable activity trackers are effective across all age groups and for long periods of time as they encourage people to exercise on a regular basis, to make it part of their routine and to set goals to lose weight.
