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With fitness trackers all the madness , some technology fellowship and wellness researchers are looking at whether the equipment could benefit a finicky group — kids .
Interest in tracking fry ’s activity has blossomed in the past year , with some investigator inquire whether fitness tracker could be in force prick to combatchildhood corpulency .
Could fitness trackers help kids be more active? Researchers may soon find out.
But few study have reckon at the expert way for children to use the tracker , say Michelle Garrison , an epidemiologist at Seattle Children ’s Research Institute and the University of Washington School of Medicine . And the trackers out there are n’t an ideal fit for the needs of nipper and their family , other experts say .
Studies have shown that thebest fitness trackerscan motivate adults to become more participating in the short term , but that effect ebb over time . That ’s probably because people using them trust on international goals — such asweight departure , or the seaworthiness " points " that some action trackers tally — to actuate their conduct alteration , Garrison said .
For children and modern fitness trackers , hardly any data is available . But there are some reasons to imagine trackers could be effectual in children . [ The Best Fitness Tracker Bands ]
" Monitors like this are actually good for what people advert to as the biz - ification of health , where almost everything can be turned into what is essentially a video game , " Garrison said . " We do it that kids really respond to that . "
Picture of bodily process
In summation , the New trackers go beyond counting pace to monitoringsleep durationand quality , as well as creating a graph of active and sedentary time . Those features could assist kinsfolk become more cognisant of their tiddler ' activity level , Garrison said .
" Some thing that increase physical activity in the day are n’t always what we expect , " Garrison say . " It may not be association football practice , it may be helping papa and mom with chores around the house . "
Garrison is conducting a small pilot work to see whether aFitBit devicecan help obese children and their home become more aware of when nipper are most alive . The hope is that by focusing on heedfulness , as well as having family members work together to meliorate their fitness , the trackers can have more long - lasting effects on health , she said .
Using a fitness tracker does n’t ask extensive commitment or advanced knowledge , which could be a vault for families where obesity or inactivity are problems , say Bethany Soule , the primary applied science officer and cobalt - beginner ofBeeminder , an app aimed at motivating people to alter their behavior that works with multiple fitness tracker .
Unlike counting calories or manually trail activity with a composition chart , " you do n’t have to lie with anything about sports or how to exercise or utilize a gymnasium , you just need to move and here ’s a small gimmick that tell you how active you are , " Soule said .
Fitness Trackers : How to Get the Most from Wearable Devices | video recording
No consummate gadget
Despite several startup focusing on fitness trackers for kids , companies are still struggling to make out up with the sound way to contrive them , Garrison said .
Soule and Daniel Reeves , the CEO and co - founder of Beeminder , for example , have ascertain that none of the physical fitness trackers are a perfect fit for their children , ages 5 and 6 .
ease up how pricy the gimmick are — often costing more than $ 100 — it can be hard to warrant the disbursement for children , who are likely to lose them , Reeves enounce .
Many trackers must be charged frequently , and some ask exploiter to physically connect the tracker to a phone or computer to see their information , which is tough for shaver to remember , he order .
Ideally , a tracker should have a way for kids to instantly see the data , while also giving parents access to it , Reeves said .
Data issues
Trackers may also underestimatechildren ’s sleep , said Lisa Meltzer , a paediatrics professor at National Judaic Health in Denver , Colo.
Most fitness trackers use lilliputian accelerometers that mensurate motion , and label any period where a person is hold still as eternal rest .
" The trouble with this is that fry are very alive sleepers , moving a great deal during the nighttime , " Meltzer told Live Science .
So although sleep data from these devices might supply some insight — for instance , letting parents know if a late bedtime is affecting a tiddler ’s temper the next day , or if nipper are getting up before than thought — they should n’t take the total number of hours of sleep as precise , she sound out .
