Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
Tech

App that can make obese people agile

Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Jun, 2014 12:26 PM
    If you are used to a sedentary lifestyle, this app can help you become a little active.
     
    This smartphone-based app can produce short-term reductions in sedentary behaviour that may be effective in improving health.
     
    More sedentary time, regardless of physical activity levels, is associated with greater risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and mortality.
     
    "Almost everyone knows that physical activity is important. But it's not widely recognised that someone who runs five miles in the evening but spends the rest of the day sitting at a desk can be putting their health at risk," said co-researcher Dale Bond from The Miriam Hospital, Rhode Island, in the US.
     
    "That smartphone you use so often throughout the day could now actually help to improve your health," he added.
     
    Bond and Graham Thomas from the same institute worked with their colleagues to develop a smartphone-based intervention to reduce the amount of time obese individuals sit or recline while awake.
     
    The smartphone app, "B-Mobile," was tested in a study of primarily middle-aged women who were obese, although the intervention can be applied to those who are not obese.
     
    The app automatically monitored the time participants spent being sedentary, and after an extended period with no activity, prompted participants via a tone paired with motivational messages to get up and walk around for a few minutes.
     
    Participants received feedback providing encouragement for taking a break.
     
    Researchers tested three different approaches to see which was best at reducing the total amount of sedentary time.
     
    Even though all three were successful, researchers found it is better to take shorter breaks more often for better health.
     
    "Prompting frequent, short activity breaks may be the most effective way to decrease excessive sedentary time and increase physical activity in individuals who are overweight or obese," Bond said.
     
    The findings appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

    MORE Tech ARTICLES

    Whoa! Google Ads on Car Dashboards, Glasses and Watches soon

    Whoa! Google Ads on Car Dashboards, Glasses and Watches soon
    Google may soon be seen on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses and watches -- in the form of an ad!

    Whoa! Google Ads on Car Dashboards, Glasses and Watches soon

    Major setback to Microsoft: No Windows 8 in China

    Major setback to Microsoft:  No Windows 8 in China
    In a major setback to Microsoft, China has banned purchase of Windows 8, the latest version of the US software giant's venerable desktop operating system, for government computers.

    Major setback to Microsoft: No Windows 8 in China

    Technology to lower risk of midair collisions

    Technology to lower risk of midair collisions
    Here is a new technology that has successfully lowered the risk of midair collisions in small aircraft.

    Technology to lower risk of midair collisions

    Apple rejects app to facilitate female masturbation

    Apple rejects app to facilitate female masturbation
     An app that teaches women how to masturbate has been removed by Apple from its iTunes stores worldwide.

    Apple rejects app to facilitate female masturbation

    Bizarre! One in six Britons prefer sex with robots

    Bizarre! One in six Britons prefer sex with robots
    Roughly one in six respondents would “have sex with an android” and another one in three (29 percent) were 'OK' with others getting down with robots, the survey revealed.

    Bizarre! One in six Britons prefer sex with robots

    Want to know how to get a good raise? Read this!

    Want to know how to get a good raise? Read this!
    Have you received a less favourable appraisal from your boss this year? You are likely coming to office late. A study has found bosses to be favouring employees who, even though on flexible timings, arrived early.

    Want to know how to get a good raise? Read this!