Your doctor has recommended that you go back to sport, but you are not particularly motivated and, above all, you know yourself enough to know that you will have trouble holding in time? This research carried out on diabetic people will interest you.
Everyone now knows: physical activity is fundamental to staying healthy, especially when you are overweight or suffer from a chronic disease, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The problem is not so much to know it as to get there … and above all to stick to it! A review of studies published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine has indeed shown that almost 50 % of people who start an activity program physiquephysique drop in six months.
What to do to stay motivated when you suffer from diabetes?
British researchers have decided to try to know if the use of connected watches could help people with type 2 diabetes to recover movementmovement in a sustainable way.
We know that physical activity is an important pillar of the management of this disease. Muscle work makes it possible to better regulate blood sugar and improve cardiovascular health and quality of life. However, it would seem that 90 % of diabetic people do not reach the recommendations in mattermatter physical activity. In question: lack of motivation, lack of support, uncertainty about the most appropriate exercises …
Is the solution in the connected watch?
Scientists therefore recruited 125 British and Canadian adults aged 40 to 75 and who had just been diagnosed with a type 2. diabetes. All volunteers benefited from support by a sports trainer (by telephone or Visio) to develop a personalized physical activity program over 6 months, with an objective: to achieve 2:30 p.m. of vigorous exercise per week.
The participants were then distributed randomly in two groups. In the first group, they benefited from a connected watch equipped with sensorssensors of cardiac movement and frequency, as well as a applicationapplication mobilemobile To follow the activity with sending personalized messages according to their recent progress. They could also send messages to a coach and receive advice to adjust their activity program. In the second (control group), on the other hand, participants did not benefit from any technological solution.
Narious results
Published in the BMJthe results show that after 6 months, the effects are clear: compared to the witness group volunteers, the people who used the connected watch were not only ten times more likely to initiate a regular training program, but also seven times more likely to be still active after six months and three times more to remain active a year later, even after the end of distance support. But that is not all since 50 % of them had reached 2 h 30 of low -costly to vigorous weekly activity, against only 17 % of the control group.
“These results are increasingly confirming that portable technologies can help people become and stay more active”
« The comments of the participants showed that the flexibility of the programs, the personalized messages and the data provided by the connected watches were essential motivation factors, explain the researchers. If some encountered technical difficulties at the start, most quickly adapted. These results are confirming more and more that portable technologies can help people become and remain more active. Although our study has focused on people with type 2 diabetes, similar advantages have also been observed in the general population. »
A powerful tool, especially when it is associated with personalized advice
Previous studies have shown that the use of a podometerpodometer Significantly improves the number of steps during the day and helps keep this habit over time. A meta-analysis of 2022 published in The Lancet also indicates that the technological new features used in connected watches (trackerstrackers of physical activity, measurement of heart rate, intensity of the effort …) make it possible to increase the number of daily steps by 1,800 on average, or 40 minutes of exercise per day and weight loss of 1 kgkg. The beneficial effect of these watches would be all the more important as personalized advice and behavioral support are provided in parallel.
You never know what to ask Christmas or for your birthday? You now have a really useful gift idea in your hands to preserve your health in the long term!
