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There's Even More Evidence That Fitness Trackers Don't Work (fortune.com)
Turns out it's really hard to persuade people to exercise -- even when they have access to how many steps they've taken, and even when they get paid for it. A staggering 90 percent of people stop wearing fitness trackers when given the choice. Fortune reports: In the new yearlong study, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, researchers randomized 800 people in Singapore who had a full-time job into four groups. Some wore a Fitbit Zip and were paid a small amount of money to get moving -- which they were instructed either to keep or to donate to charity -- while others didn't wear Fitbits. Researchers measured their physical activity, weight, blood pressure, the body's ability to use oxygen (called cardiorespiratory fitness) and their self-reported quality of life. For the last six months of the study, all incentives were dropped, and people could choose whether or not to continue wearing their fitness trackers. (About 40% of people had stopped wearing it in the first six months anyway.) The cash seemed to work at first. Those who were rewarded with cash did an extra 13 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week and added 570 steps to their daily counts. Raising money for charity had no effect. But once the monetary rewards stopped, so did the improvements. By the end of the study, just 10% of people were still wearing the trackers.
It's hardwired into our brains: Don't expend energy unnecessarily! Conserve your bodyfat as much as possible, tomorrow or the next day or next week there may be nothing to eat! Famine is coming! You must survive long enough to breed! Doesn't matter that we're not hunter-gatherers anymore and that you can op into your car and drive 5 minutes to the grocery store and get enough food to feed yourself for weeks, or that there's an obesity problem, it's hardwired into our caveman-like brains to conserve energy, move only as much as necessary. Also, the vast majority of people find exercise to be unpleasant, therefore they'll avoid it any way they can, even if they know on an intellectual level that it's good for them, they'll feel better in the long run, live longer, be happier -- doesn't matter, it's unpleasant right now, emotionally they just can't bring themselves to do it, therefore they don't. For what it's worth, while abstract reasons to exercise regularly like "To be healthier", or "Because I want to lose weight" don't work, having a non-abstract reason, like "I want to run a (half) marathon next year", or "I want to participate in such-and-such sport so I'm training for that" seem to work better.