Sedentary Behavior and the Use of Wearable Technology: An Editorial

Nathan O’Keeffe, Jennifer L Scheid and Sarah L West
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Nathan O’Keeffe: Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada
Jennifer L Scheid: Department of Health Promotion, Daemen College, Amherst, NY 14226, USA
Sarah L West: Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-6

Abstract: Globally, we continue to face a mounting issue of obesity combined with inactivity; sedentary behaviour is independently associated with poor health outcomes including disease and mortality. As such, exploring ways to try to reduce sedentary behaviour and decrease the risk of diseases is an important area of consideration. The role of wearable technology, such as fitness trackers, to encourage and subsequently increase physical activity is relatively well documented. These devices have been successful at encouraging populations to increase daily activity levels. While time being sedentary is often correlated with physical activity participation, this is not always the case. Therefore, it may be just as important to consider the activity an individual is not doing when evaluating health and well-being. This Editorial will summarize the importance of distinguishing between physical activity and sedentary behaviour. It will also discuss how wearable technology, in the form of fitness trackers, may be used to encourage someone to break up sedentary bouts more often. Finally, we will consider important future research directions.

Keywords: chronic disease; wearable technology; self-monitoring; accuracy; physical activity; sedentary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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