JUNE 8 2019 LISTENER 19
and motivation in the digital communities
that grew around the technology and were
drawn to the data, others couldn’t care less.
“If you are driven by gathering your data
and you go for walk, run, surf or cycle with-
out your tracker on, has it really happened?
Does it change the joy of movement, going
out for a run, feeling the wind in your hair,
shaking off the day? If you enjoy wearing
and seeing the data, then you should use
one. But if you feel controlled by it, or the
device is controlling your behaviour in prob-
lematic or obsessive ways, then it’s probably
best not to. Know the limits of the data,
where it might end up and how it might
influence your feelings about yourself and
whether you had a good day or a bad one.”
Public-health physician Dr Robyn Whit-
taker, from the University of Auckland’s
National Institute for Health Innovation,
researches programmes using mobile-phone
prompts to change behaviour. One of the
most successful has been text messaging
for smoking cessation. “There’s something
about frequent messages sent unprovoked
to your mobile that works really well to sup-
port healthy behaviour change.”
She says the evidence isn’t there yet for
apps or wearable sensors, but Fitbit’s regu-
lar reminders to get up and move, could
work this way. “People who buy a Fitbit are
reasonably motivated in the first place, so
that’s a good thing, but it’s only that popula-
tion it’s going to work for, and for probably a
short period. A lot of these things don’t have
great stickability – there aren’t a lot of rea-
sons for people to keep going back to look
at it, whereas messaging is an unprompted
reminder and you can’t ignore it because
we’re highly trained not to ignore text mes-sages. If it’s a notification from an app, it’s
really easy to turn those off.”MODEST DEVIATIONS
Auckland cardiologist Dr Patrick Gladding,
who guesses nearly 50% of his patients
wear fitness trackers, says he’s already seen
about half a dozen people who’ve gone to
the doctor because of unusual heart-rate
readings on their Apple watch. Mostlynothing is amiss, but one of his patients
is still having tests. He says suggestions
by tracker companies that the devices are
improving health are premature. Patients
with atrial fibrillation often monitor their
heart rate on a wearable device. “They’re
not all that accurate, but it’s sort of a guide.
I don’t think they tell you anything very
useful about heart health if you’re well and
have a normal rhythm. To some extent, the
rate at which your heart beats is an indicator
of fitness, but that’s a pretty loose thing.”
Gladding says I shouldn’t get too con-
cerned about a moderate change in heart
rate after my Fitbit’s app update. Indeed, we
shouldn’t really worry if our resting heart
rate is 65, 75 or higher – a normal range is
regarded as 60-100, but some elite athletes
are in the 40s. “Everyone is different. The
60-100 range is just so people don’t get anx-
ious if it’s 80 versus 70, because that’ll be
normal for them. If you’re overweight and
more unfit, it’ll be higher, but that’s a very
broad generalisation. There is no line in the
sand above which it is bad.”
Where there has been an abrupt change,
and the reading has increased substantially- say by 30% or more – it may indicate the
need for further investigation. “There are
very astute patients who know themselves
very well, who exercise and notice their
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The University
of Auckland’s Dr
Robyn Whittaker,
and University
of Pennsylvania
researcher Dr
Mitesh Patel.
“Know the limits of the
data, where it might
end up and how it might
influence your feelings
about yourself and
whether you had a good
day or a bad one.”