Technology and the measurement of health

Our team are experts in developing digital health interventions that provide feedback to the public about their health and our research is exploring methods of objectively assessing physical activity and movement.

Technology has been revolutionising our society for centuries. The recent integration of digital health technology into modern life (e.g. smartphones and physical activity trackers) has led to an increased effort to apply these technologies to health improvement.

Our internationally renowned team of experts are employing cutting-edge, innovative methods to understand how to best utilise technology to increase physical activity and reduce time sedentary in the population. Our team is at the forefront of shaping how best to use these technologies within national health policy and practice.

Theme leads

Dr Dale Esliger

Reader in Digital Health

Dr James Sanders

Senior Research Associate in Digital Health for Lifestyle Medicine

Research spotlight

Snacktivity鈩�: developing the SnackApp

Global Physical Activity Dataset

2023

Ahmadi MN, Hamer M, Gill JMR, Murphy M, Sanders JP, Doherty A, Stamatakis E. Brief bouts of device-measured intermittent lifestyle physical activity and its association with major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality in people who do not exercise: a prospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00183-4
Thomas JJC, Daley AJ, Esliger DW, Kettle VE, Coombe A, Stamatakis E, Sanders JP. Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity Data Sets (Global Physical Activity Data Set Catalogue) That Include Markers of Cardiometabolic Health: Systematic Scoping Review. J Med Internet Res, 2023. DOI: 10.2196/45599
Kingsnorth AP, Moltchanova E, Thomas JJ, Whelan ME, Orme MW, Esliger DW, Hobbs M. Interchangeability of Research and Commercial Wearable Device Data for Assessing Associations With Cardiometabolic Risk Markers. Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behaviour, 2023. DOI: 10.1123/jmpb.2022-0050
Sanders JP, Gokal K, Thomas JJ, Rawstorn JC, Sherar LB, Maddison R, Greaves CJ, Esliger D, Daley AJ and Snacktivity Investigators. Development of a Mobile Health Snacktivity^TM App to Promote Physical Activity in Inactive Adults (SnackApp): Intervention Mapping and User Testing Study. JMIR Formative Research, 2023. DOI: 10.2196/41114

Digital apps

i: Why healthy-eating apps are flawed and using tech to tackle weight gain is problematic

Wearable technology

BBC 1: This Morning (at 42 minutes)
BBC Radio 4: Sliced Bread podcast - fitness trackers
Cambridge Network: Largest ever study using wearable devices finds physical activity is beneficial for health, and more intense activity is better
Affixxius Films: Novel sensor developed at 含羞草视频
Nissan Excitement Index: Football versus Nissan GT-R: Sport scientists at 含羞草视频 fitted participants with wearable technology to monitor and gather heart rate, breathing rate and electro-dermal activity to examine the physiological effects

Snacktivity™ to promote physical activity. Funded by NIHR. Led by Amanda Daley.
The health benefits of Snacktivity™. Led by Jonah Thomas.
Measuring Engagement with mHealth tools: A systematic review of methodologies – Led by James Sanders.
ADAPTIVE: Context-aware ADAptive Physical acTivity interVEntions using model predictive control – Led by James Sanders.