Activity Tracking.......

How technology has moved on!!! I recently got one of those new fangled activity trackers and have to say I love it!! I got the Withings Activite Pop watch - you wear it as normal like a watch and download the app to your phone, then go about your business and like magic it tracks how many steps you do, converts that to how many miles you've walked and how many calories you've burned and it also tells you how much sleep you get and the quality of that sleep. I spend lots of time in the swimming pool and eventually there will be a software update that will enable the Activite Pop to know I am in the pool and then track how much swimming I do! It's a great little motivational tool, you'll see in the picture the smaller disc on the clock face - that tells me what percentage of my daily activity I've completed today, or it tells me how much more I need to do to get to my 100% (which I have set at 10,000 steps per day).  So today I've done roughly 80% (8000 steps) and if I go out and do a brisk walk, it's a light dry evening so I've no excuse not to go out and get those extra 2000 steps I'll be done for the day!!  How it works I do not know, it blows my mind even beginning to try and work it out. (Maybe there's a leprechaun inside it who pops his head out every now and again and reports back), but whatever the mechanism is, I've tested it against my phone GPS tracker and it seems to be fairly spot on in its accuracy.  

I think this new technology can have a role to play in the fight against cancer and other diseases.  We know that a half of all cancers can be prevented by diet and lifestyle choices.  Being physically active is proven to bring health benefits that can reduce the risk of developing cancer.  The international recommendations regarding the level of activity we need to do to get those health benefits is 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on most days of the week.  As a physio working in cancer care I feel it is my responsibility to spread this message and inform my clients that they can reduce their risk of cancer recurrence by increasing their activity levels and to help them to achieve this as it is not always the easiest thing to do though for people who have been through treatment and might be suffering with Cancer Related Fatigue (CRF).  CRF is a common side effect of cancer treatment, affecting almost everyone who has had treatment at some stage in their journey to recovery.  It is complex and multi-factorial and the management of it is far from simply 'getting yourself more active'.  I've done lots of work with clients who have CRF and I'd always advocate that folk use whatever works for them to pace themselves, monitor their activity levels and ultimately try and ensure they get their recommended level of daily exercise.  So, over the years the tools I use have changed with the times, starting off in the early days with a simple paper diary sheet, we then progressed on to pedometers and then the GPS phone apps, but I really think that the new wave of activity trackers could be a game changer in the management of cancer related fatigue which to put it in its most simplified form is very much about finding a balance between rest and activity and working out an individual programme to increase activity levels without causing fatigue levels to rise. My tracker is so simple to use and it must be foolproof! It gives me great feedback and motivation. Plus they don't have to break the bank, with lots of different models being available on the market for all budgets.  Here's my analysis for my activity for Monday -  a day when I spent all day working with clients, who would have thought that I'd clock up so many miles just moving around the treatment room!

and the second picture gives me my sleep breakdown for last night - with a 4month old baby it is certainly encouraging to see that I am actually managing to get into a good deep sleep.  I didn't need the tracker though to tell me it only took me 4 minutes to get to sleep cos I know as soon as my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light! And now, I've spent a little longer writing this than I thought I would so it's now dark outside, I'm not going to get to my target steps for the day and it's time for me to start clocking up the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's!! Night, night!