{"id":15730,"date":"2016-04-20T11:28:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicalfitnessnetwork.org\/public\/?p=15730"},"modified":"2016-10-10T09:07:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T16:07:58","slug":"benefits-of-activity-trackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/benefits-of-activity-trackers\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of Activity Trackers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"genome-spring-2016\"<\/a>

This article is featured in the Genome spring 2016 issue.<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

In the 2013 film Her,<\/em> Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls head over heels in love with his computer operating system. After meeting \u201cher,\u201d he never wants to be without her, and his life is changed forever. That\u2019s how New Yorker Marian Rivman feels about her FitBit \u2014 the wearable activity tracker that counts her daily steps and the calories she burns and monitors her heart rate. After she\u2019d had it for only one day, she was in love, she says. And since then, her life has certainly changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to have a naturally occurring 10,000-step-a-day life,\u201d says Rivman, a semi-retired public relations and marketing consultant who recently celebrated her 70th birthday. \u201cNot that I just go out for a walk, but that I have a life that\u2019s vigorous and active, and in the course of just living, I walk 10,000 steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten thousand steps is about five miles, and it\u2019s the generic daily goal that makers of the devices recommend for users. Since Rivman fastened the FitBit onto her wrist in June 2015, she\u2019s met or surpassed that goal every day. She\u2019s lost 12 pounds, and she thinks a little harder before she gives into the temptation of an indulgent snack. \u201cI ask myself, \u2018How many steps is that puppy going to cost me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivman is among an estimated one in five Americans who owns an activity tracker, also called fitness bands or fitness trackers. Wearable devices \u2014 including trackers and smart watches, clothes, and glasses \u2014 are expected to comprise a $50 billion industry by 2018. At a time when obesity and sedentary lifestyles are linked to some of the leading causes of death, these little gizmos could be a boon to the nation\u2019s health. But do blinking lights on a wristband light a sufficient flame to get people off the couch and walking five miles a day? For some people, yes. For others, definitely no.<\/p>\n

Read the full article at Genome Magazine \u00bb<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Genome Magazine<\/a>\u2018s mission is to explore the world of personalized medicine and the genomic revolution that makes it possible, empowering you to make informed health decisions that will help you live better and longer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 2013 film Her, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls head over heels in love with his computer operating system. After meeting \u201cher,\u201d he never wants to be without her, and his life is changed forever. That\u2019s how New Yorker Marian Rivman feels about her FitBit \u2014 the wearable activity tracker that counts her daily steps and the calories she burns and monitors her heart rate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[54,134],"class_list":["post-15730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-mfn","tag-exercise","tag-fitness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}