#activity tracking

I’ve done really well at starting to pull myself out of a pretty deep two-ish month long ME/CFS crash, not that I’m completely out of it by a long chalk but I want to be able to take pause to appreciate where I have got to considering how long and deep a crash can be (and the many months of overexertion that had lead up to this one, risking that it might take just as long to get out of). Also, a…

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You might want to take this news standing up. A national survey finds that Americans of all ages are spending more time sitting. And this has health experts worried.

Sitting too much — especially when watching television, phones or other screens — can be bad for your health, research suggests. It has been linked to diseases such as diabetes and cancer. It also has been tied to an increased risk of mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.

In a new study, researchers analyzed survey data from more than 50,000 American children, teenagers and adults. The surveys, which went from 2001 through 2016, asked people how much time they spent sitting. The results of those surveys were published April 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Overall, people reported sitting a lot. For instance, close to two-thirds of children and teens said they sat at least two hours a day watching television or videos. The data also showed that computer use outside of school or work has been increasing across all ages.

For adults and teens, the estimated total time sitting increased by nearly one hour a day between 2007 and 2016. That means teens now sit more than eight hours a day.

Lin Yang is a public-health expert at Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Canada. An author of the new study, she notes that this trend is not unique to the United States. “Studies out of Europe and Australia have also found increases in sitting time,” she says. “This includes sitting for work or school as well as driving rather than walking or riding a bike.”

In recent years, inactivity has emerged as an important risk to overall health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services updated its Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans last year. It now highlights new research about the dangers of excessive sitting. “This new version recommends Americans not only move more, but also sit less,” Yang says.

Erin O’Loughlin is an exercise psychologist at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. There are many reasons children and teens have been sitting more, she notes. These include less outdoor play, more screen time and schools that have been reducing opportunities for exercise during the school day.

O’Loughlin studies how active video games — sometimes called “exergames” — can help kids move more. “Sports are great. But you don’t have to play sports if that’s not your thing,” she says. To up your active time and sit less, she recommends finding what works for you. “If you like screen time, try to mix it with physical activity,” she says. “You can do this by playing active video games.”

People tend to think they spend less time sitting and more time exercising. The first step to getting healthier is becoming aware of how active — or inactive — you are, says O’Loughlin. Activity trackers can help. Their apps give people the data to track trends. So can thinking about which daily activities get you to move most.

“We all need to move more and sit less,” says Yang. “It’s important to not just switch from sitting to standing but to actually move around.” And spending more time outside helps, she notes. This is good for fitness and for exposure to the sun, an important source of the body’s vitamin D.

John Hancock will now sell only "interactive" policies that collect health data through wearable devices such as a smartwatch.

Policyholders can earn discounts and rewards such as gift cards for hitting exercise targets.

John Hancock launched its first interactive policy in 2015 and will now apply the model across all of its policies.

Activity-tracking devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit can record how much exercise somebody is doing and can be used to log dietary choices.

But privacy advocates have warned that insurers could use tracking data to punish customers who fail to meet targets.

"Naturally the American dystopian surveillance state will combine insurance with fat-shaming. Welcome to hell," said Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute.

However, the insurance industry says it is tightly regulated and must be able to justify rate increases or policy changes.

John Hancock said customers would not have to log their activities to quality for coverage.

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For those of you who would like to let John Hancock know what you think of this policy decision:

!!! I am not dead! Just a v.busy teacher / DM / creature.

But, I am a little lost here in terms of what I owe and what I don’t. If you would be so kind, could you:

IM / Dis//cord message me if we had a thing going that you want to keep, so I can find it