Digital Technologies for Physical Activity

Digital technologies are becoming more common in interventions targeting physical activity (PA). This paper reviews the literature to determine whether these technologies influence PA behaviour changes, and identifies a few factors that could affect these changes.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, people had a limited access to traditional physical activities. It was therefore important that they could continue the routine of exercising at home. Many people used digital platforms to guide or aid their physical activities. These platforms included mobile or online applications (eg, streaming services for exercising); subscriber fitness programs which are facilitated via app or online (eg, Activate and Centr); fitness or sports apps that provide coaching to help people improve their performance in particular actions or skills (eg, Zwift, FullGaz, Rouvy); and pedometers and heart rate monitors.

In general, women accessed these platforms more than men. This is probably because of their higher dependence on self-monitoring and internal accountability and safety concerns when exercising outside, after dark or www.aroostookez.org/digital-technologies-for-physical-activity in the fear of judgment from others. However, the majority of participants who used these digital platforms also participated in instructor-led physical activity classes or in-person training.

Unadjusted logistic regression models were examined to find connections between the characteristics of the sample, such as the sex of the participant, age, household employment status, childcare responsibilities, as well as MVPA, MSE, and combined physical guidelines for exercise adhering to. Multilevel adjusted logistic regression models were used to identify potential mediating or confounding effects.