Physical activitY

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) just released the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Physical activity has many health benefits. With approximately 80% of US adults and adolescents being insufficiently active, incentivizing them to exercise more has huge health and economic consequences.

In addition, an increasing number of studies show exercise has far deeper health implications than just weight loss. It’s been shown for example to improve mental health and the risk of chronic conditions like type-2 diabetes and to extend lifespan.

Nutrition

Despite an increase in the number of gym memberships, the obesity rate in the US has kept rising: it is estimated that nutrition is 80% of the solution, exercise being only 20%. This highlights the importance of going beyond exercising, and adopt an integrative approach where exercise, nutrition and mental health are synergistically managed.

The nutrition space is cluttered with many fad diets and fake science which makes it sometimes difficult to determine what really works. The best approach is to follow the progress made in nutrition science. We have to be careful though, as the peer-reviewed approached borrowed from medicine can slow down progress. A more pragmatic approach reminiscent of the one applied in physics, where a theory is considered valid until it is disproven by unexplained observations. A personalized approach to exercise and diet may require a trial and error methodology that integrates some anecdotal evidence.

If anything, what those fad diets have proven is that to lose weight you need more than calorie counting and macro-nutrients tracking. You can lose weight on a higher calorie diet by having the right macro and micro nutrients balance, and conversely not lose weight on a lower calorie diet. Nutrition is more complex than that. We need to differentiate between good and bad carbs, good and bad fats, and we need to understand how they all act synergistically.

As far as general health is concerned, we need a more precise tracking than just basic macro or micro nutrients. For example, it has been shown that inflammation is at the root of many chronic conditions. Hence we need a deeper understanding of what creates inflammation. For example, it is known that omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory and omega-3 are anti-inflammatory, and that a diet high in omega-6 vs omega-3 is pro-inflammatory. Another example of nutrients that need to be balanced is zinc and copper. So it’s not just only how much we take of any nutrient in isolation, but also how much we take of them on a relative basis.

In the case of athletic performance or muscle gain, what you eat but also when you eat matters. Personalization becomes an important aspect of any coaching program. This requires objective metrics for each goal and the monitoring of how these metrics evolve over time, compared with their target values. Including such feedback loops to inform recommendations brings coaching to a whole new level.

With the rise of wearables, we have access to a lot more data

Data generated by our wearable devices are adding a new dimension to performance monitoring. By integrating it with information about the kind of workouts and how it changes over time, we can get deeper insights into what’s working and what’s not for a given client.

Behavioral science and virtual coaching

Recently, behavioral science has been used in other fields to influence behavior change. Including similar strategies in virtual coaching, potentially supported by a human coach, can have a significant impact. For example, starting by motivating people to exercise at home until they reach a level of confidence where they feel the need to add some gym workouts, to use more specialized equipment, or to add a social dimension to exercising.

CONCLUSION

The huge volume of data collected creates a unique opportunity to improve someone’s overall health thanks to advances in data science and behavioral science. A next generation of virtual coaches, capable of learning and adapting their recommendations to each user, is within reach. But current apps are far from doing that, even the ones who claim they are using artificial intelligence. Whatever technology an app is using, it needs to be smart and to be able to customize its recommendations to your own needs and goals, using science-based knowledge.

References

  • A unified view of health. link