Is Your Smartphone Keeping You from Losing Weight?

by Lexi Petronis

Sometimes it's hard to imagine life without a smartphone--how on earth did we check email, send messages (without actually, you know, talking to one another), and play way-too-addicting games such as Candy Crush Saga? (I can't believe I just admitted that.)

Now one study is showing that we should do more than just imagine life without our smartphones--maybe we should try putting them down more often, because they may be contributing to our lack of fitness.

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New research from Kent State University has found a link between heavy cell phone usage and poor fitness in college students. The researchers studied 300 students in the Midwest to find out how much time they spent on their cells every day, and tested the fitness levels and body composition of a portion of them. The results: The people who spent lots of time on their phones--as much as 14 hours a day (!)--weren't as physically fit as those who averaged about 90 minutes of phone use each day.

The researchers found that the students who were spending lots of time on their phones were supplementing with time on other media--video games, movies--which shows they may not have been all that interested in exercise in the first place. But others reported that if they were bored, they'd download apps instead of being more active; or that if they were being active, hearing the phone buzz or beep would make them stop and check email or Facebook instead.

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Write the authors: "The possibility that cell phone use may encourage physical activity among some low-frequency users while disrupting physical activity and encouraging sedentary activity among high-frequency users helps explain the significant negative relationship between cell phone use and cardiorespiratory fitness identified in this study."

Hmmm...on the other hand, there are tons of smartphone apps that encourage physical activity, and you can certainly use it as a tool in your workouts (listening to music, tracking exercise, and so on). So if there is a link, perhaps it has more to do with how physically active you are (or want to be) in the first place. Maybe?

What do you think of the study? How often do you use your phone--and does it ever deter you from (or help you with) your workouts?

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