Fitness Trackers Fail to Motivate Exercise.

The results of a study on physical activity have researchers asking what in the world will it take to get people moving.

All Boolani of Clarkson University and Timothy Baghurst of Oklahoma State University (both are associate professors of physical therapy) wanted to see how aspiring physical educators might change their activity levels when they know they are being monitored.

For this OSU-based study, they got together a group of 36 students and gave each one a monitor, telling them it would measure the amount of sunlight they received each day. Later, they gave them another monitor to count the number of steps they took each day.

The catch is both monitors actually measured how active the fitness advocates were. It turns out, the students failed to put their best foot forward. While the researchers expected the students to set a brisk pace as role models for good health, they were...