Are technologies designed to support physical activity really helping young adults be active? A four-year longitudinal study

Healthy lifestyle technologies (HLT), including (i) exergaming systems; (ii) fitness trackers; (iii) fitness apps; (iv) interactive exercise equipment; (v) smart apparel; and (vi) heart rate monitors are highly commercialized, but it is unclear whether their volitional use promotes physical activity (PA). The first objective was to describe the average association between use of different types of HLT and PA levels. The second objective was to assess if changes in use of HLT predict changes in PA.

We used four yearly cycles of data from the MATCH longitudinal study, when participants were 20, 21, 22 and 23 years on average, respectively. Participants self-reported their use of HLT and their PA level at every cycle. General estimating equations were used to estimate (1) the odds of reporting any PA, (2) the association between use of HLT and PA level of participants reporting PA, and (3) the association between change in use of HLT and change in PA.

Among the 522 participants retained, approximately 40% reported using HLT. The most used HLT were fitness trackers (30%), followed by fitness apps (9%), interactive equipment (9%), heart rate monitors (7%), smart apparel (5%), and exergaming (4%). Whereas HLT use was not associated with the odds of reporting some PA (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.9 –1.7), participants using at least one HLT reported 21% (95% CI 7–36%) higher levels of PA than non-users. Over the years, the adoption of HLT was not related to a change in PA, but discontinuing the use of HLT was associated with a 40% reduction in PA.

Although HLT users report higher PA than non-users, the use of HLT is not associated with a different likelihood of taking part in MVPA. The volitional use of HLT does not lead to an uptake in PA.