Article Excerpt
The report outlines several different pieces of research on how fitness trackers impact motivation, physical activity, and changes in things like weight and blood pressure. It points to one study that was published in 2016, focused on Fitbit. This study found that Fitbit users “kept up their physical activity a bit better than a control group without them,” but that after a year, “it wasn’t enough to produce changes in weight or blood pressure.”
John Jakicic, who studies obesity and weight regulation at the University of Kansas, told the Washington Post that products like the Apple Watch operate with the assumption that “if you give people information, they’ll do something to change their behavior.” In reality, this isn’t the case over longer periods of time.
A 2016 study by Jordan Etkin of Duke University found that measurement can undermine the “intrinsic motivation” of activities like going for a walk, and make it feel more like work and decrease continued engagement in the activity. “They can’t give you motivation,” Etkin says.
The gadgets alone “don’t provide that additional support needed for long-term, sustained behavior change — things like social support or goal setting, demonstration of behaviors by other people that are like you and action planning.”
Fitness is also only one factor in a person’s overall health. Apple Watch focuses primarily on fitness tracking, which means it’s not the only reason a person’s health might improve or decline over time. Apple’s Health app aims to aggregate a bigger-picture view of your health, bringing in data on the numerous other factors that contribute to your health other than fitness.
With that said, I do have several issues with how the Apple Watch tackles fitness tracking. The focus on calories, in particular, is something that I think should change. Research has already proven that these types of calorie estimates are largely inaccurate and misleading.
Relevance
This article talks about some of the issues some people find within the apple watch as a system of losing weight. The article talks about how fitness trackers like the Apple Watch and the Fitbit, are great tools to use and are very successful, but only for a little bit of time. They state that over the course of a year, people tend to use these devices less and less. The article references a study talking about how the activity measurement systems in these devices can make your weight loss journey feel like more of a chore than something that you feel motivated and interested in doing. The article then goes on to say that Apple Watches mainly focus on fitness, not your overall health. There are many other parts of your daily life that are just as important as exercising, and the Apple Watch does not take that into account.
With type 2 diabetics and pre diabetics, while medication is helpful for balancing your glucose levels, there are many other aspects of your lifestyle that are important to maintain and work to better. Integrating education and motivation for these lifestyle changes is very important to maintaining glucose levels. Being able to create that motivation in a natural way could be a massive help for those who struggle with motivation in keeping up with these things.
Sources
Miller, C. (2023, February 7). Apple Watch is a motivating fitness tracker, but experts say it won’t make you lose weight. 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/07/apple-watch-weight-loss-tool-studies/
