Department
Health Promotion
Document Type
Editorial
Publication Source
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publication Date
2020-06-12
Volume
17
Issue
12
Article Number
4181
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
DOI
10.3390/ijerph17124181
Recommended Citation
O'Keeffe, N., Scheid, J. L., & West, S. L. (2020). Sedentary Behavior and the Use of Wearable Technology: An Editorial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12), Article 4181. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124181
Comments
© 2020 The Authors
This is an open access article made available under the CC-BY-4.0 license.