Substack

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Nudging on fitness

Recent research in behavioural economics have revealed that people face self-control problems and therefore fail to do or not do things despite firm resolutions to the contrary. I have blogged earlier about use of commitment contracts offered by webistes like StickK.com aimed at among other things, helping people reduce weight.

Now here comes two new tiny wearable motion sensors - Fitbit and DirectLife - backed by web sites graphing the collected data on your daily activities that seek to nudge you towards achieving your pre-defined calorie reduction goal each day. These devices - containing and accelerometer which tallies how much it’s jostled during the day - clipped to your clothes track your physical activities and sleep, and transfers the data on the same to their websites where it is analyzed for the progress made by you towards achieving your daily goals.

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