I just got a Fitbit on eBay after reading this post. It's a pedometer, designed to be worn all day that tracks your every move. It even claims to monitor your sleep patterns when worn on your wrist at night.

I was intrigued. Could wearing something so small really influence behaviour in a way that might impact long-term health? The hype suggests so.

It seems like a combination of cool form-factor video game style challenges and rewards for certain activities (steps per day, flights of stairs walked etc) can really appeal. Plus some good old-fashioned competition between friends - the dashboard of the website where your stats are collected is heavily integrated with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Setup is a breeze, a charge lasts a week or more and synchronisation with the web server is automatically done when you walk into the same room as your computer.

It seems that the Fitbit has now been partnered with United Healthcare, the large US health insurer.

UnitedHealth Group Announces New Strategic Partnerships with Mobile Health Technology Firms

Stay tuned - I'll let you know how it goes.

Update

on 2012-12-06 17:05 by James Rudd

I'm enjoying the FitBit - a great motivator to keep walking every day, and keep climbing stairs too.

I'm also thinking of investing in a Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale that can be paired with the device.