Improving health with personal trackers

Tracking is essential for evaluating any strategies you use to improve your health and fitness. Trackers are also useful simply as records of your health and fitness.

Furthermore, tracking may improve some aspects of health and fitness. In rigorous studies, participants randomly assigned to monitor their weight,^1,2 physical activity,^3,4 blood sugar (glucose),^5,6,7 or blood pressure^8,9 showed a little more improvement than participants who did not monitor. That is, just by tracking a variable, you may be more likely to improve on that variable than if you didn't track it. Tracking may improve medical conditions the most when patients and their healthcare providers adjust treatment and behavior based on the tracking data.¹⁰

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References (links open new windows):

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Kolb H, Kempf K, Martin S, Stumvoll M, Landgraf R. On what evidence-base do we recommend self-monitoring of blood glucose? Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. 2010;87:150-6.