{"id":30956,"date":"2017-05-04T09:42:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T09:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=30956"},"modified":"2017-05-04T09:42:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T09:42:07","slug":"compelling-science-behind-fitness-trackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=30956","title":{"rendered":"This Is the Compelling Science Behind Fitness Trackers"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are especially good for the sedentary.<\/h2>\n

I wear a fitness tracker that monitors how many steps I take each day. Ask me why, and I\u2019ll tell you I\u2019m not quite sure. Push me, and I\u2019ll say it\u2019s fun. It sort of appeals to my sense of achievement to know if I hit my Fitbit-suggested target every day of 10,000 steps.<\/p>\n

 
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My dichotomous enjoyment\/ambivalence isn\u2019t unusual. The companies making the trackers claim that counting your steps leads to better health. But as a user the evidence feels shaky. Stacey Burr, vice-president of wearable sports electronics for the German sneaker maker Adidas, makes a powerful argument that such nitpicking misses the point. How to use the collected information is \u201cthe next frontier,\u201d she says. \u201cRight now it\u2019s about how to get people moving more and to stay with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data backs up Burr\u2019s assertion. Just 1% of the U.S. population engages in regular vigorous exercise, she says. Seventy percent is \u201cinactive,\u201d a description that applies to an appallingly high percentage of children. View fitness trackers from that perspective, and the focus shifts from \u2018what does this information mean?\u2019 to \u2018just getting inactive people moving is a good thing.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Burr, a founder of a sensor-based clothing business called Textronix that Adidas bought, spoke Wednesday at a lunch panel on \u201cThe Exercise Cure: The High-Tech Science of Fitness\u201d at Fortune<\/em>\u2019s Brainstorm Health conference in San Diego. She says a huge opportunity for combating childhood obesity is teaching kids to be active. School systems have begun experimenting with heart-rate monitors, for example, that kids wear during gym class. Grades are based on minutes of elevated heart-rate activity, and baseline measurements can shift for children of different athletic abilities. Burr says educators have found correlations between more activity and better attendance, behavior, and academic achievement.<\/p>\n

Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n