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Are there benefits to fitness gadgets?
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Well-known and popular fitness gadgets today, such as accelerometers, pedometers, fitness trackers, are designed to improve the user's physical activity and promote a healthy lifestyle. However, do they actually improve physical intensity in people with cardiometabolic problems? Scientists led by Dr. Hodgkinson, representing the National Institute for Health Research at the academic health research center in Manchester, used meta-analytic practice to answer this question.
A systematic meta-analysis was conducted on nearly four dozen randomized clinical trials involving more than four thousand people who regularly used fitness trackers. At the beginning of using such gadgets, a significant increase in physical activity was noted, which continued for approximately 3-4 months of follow-up. Particularly increased activity was observed with the use of pedometers and devices whose action is based on providing personal consultations.
The researchers concluded that the use of mobile fitness trackers (especially those with pedometer and personal counseling features) significantly increased activity levels in people with cardiometabolic conditions. However, these optimizations did not always align with the goals set by physicians in clinical guidelines.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services provides the following recommendations. To benefit their own health, an adult should be physically active for 150 to 300 minutes (moderate physical activity) or 75 to 150 minutes (high-intensity aerobic physical activity) each week. It is recommended to periodically vary and combine activity levels, alternating periods of running with walking, cycling, playing with a ball, dancing, swimming. Alternation is carried out throughout the week.
Additional benefits are expected from maintaining physical activity for more than 300 minutes per week (moderate pace). It is recommended to perform moderate-intensity and high-intensity muscle-strengthening exercises, involving all major muscle groups, at least twice a week. Such exercises provide additional support and improve health.
People over 55 are advised to focus on multi-component physical activity, perform exercises to train the vestibular apparatus and strengthen the muscular frame.
The results of the project were published on the pages of JAMA Network Open