Sophomore Danielle Dulchinos jogged down Truitt Drive, training for the half marathon she will run at the beginning of spring break. At mile four, her wrist began to buzz — she just reached her step goal.

Fitness trackers have arrived on campus. Students and faculty wear brands such as Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike FuelBand on their wrists to track the steps they take, the hours of sleep they get, the calories they burn and the number of minutes they are active each day. These trackers use accelerometer technology to accurately represent the wearer’s daily activity.

Already active, Dulchinos got her Fitbit Flex for Christmas two years ago thinking it would make her more aware of her daily movement. She didn’t expect it to make her more aware of her running.

“I usually reach 12,000 to 15,000 steps,” Dulchinos said. “On my 12.5 mile day, I got close to 30,000. It was awesome. It’s good to have concrete data to know where you’re at. Also, it’s great bragging rights.”

People who are not in training but just need a little motivation to get moving also use fitness trackers.

Sean Burrus, adjunct instructor in religious studies, made his New Year’s resolution to be active 20 minutes a day, take 10,000 steps a day and exercise at least three times a week. His Fitbit Flex has helped him achieve these goals. He said that because it’s on his wrist, it’s a constant reminder he has goals to finish.

“It motivates me,” Burrus said. “Even on the weeks when I don’t really get my goals in, I do better than I would without it. I feel guilty if I don’t meet my goals. I’m more likely to go after my goals with it.”

Stepping away from sedentary

Lynda Butler-Storsved, senior lecturer in health and human performance, uses a Nike FuelBand. She can fall into “active couch potato syndrome,” meaning she exercises every day, but  she will spend the rest of the time sitting and working.

By having a fitness tracker, she can better monitor her activity and remind herself to go for a short walk when she is being inactive.

“I think a lot of people do want to be more conscious of their activity level, but the convenience level isn’t always easy,” Butler-Storsved said. “This is easy. People can overestimate how active they are. People are shocked to see how long they are sitting.”

Standing burns twice as many calories as sitting. According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, sitting for more than eight hours a day increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and early death.

“Do allow yourself to put some focus on your unstructured activity,” Butler-Storsved said. “Take note of what you’re doing throughout your other time during the day, and set a specific goal around those. Decrease the amount of time that you’re sitting.”

Burrus found that, because of his Fitbit, he now goes out of his way to take more steps. Before, he would drive to the grocery store and downtown area, which are only a few blocks away. Now, he almost always walks there.

“I have volunteered to get things at the grocery store even though it wasn’t completely necessary,” he said.

Freshman Olivia Vaz got her Fitbit Flex because both her mom and stepfather have one and gave good reviews. Although there are other apps that track similar things, she likes that she has all of the data in once place.

The Fitbit automatically sets the step goal at 10,000, but Vaz upped it to 12,000 to encourage her to move more, especially as she trains for a half marathon this summer.

“I changed it because I wanted to do more of a challenge,” Vaz said. “I love how much it motivates me each day to reach my steps. If I’m 500 steps short at the end of the day I’ll walk up and down my hall.”

Getting social

The Fitbit app allows users the opportunity to connect with other users as “friends.” A leadership board displays how many steps each friend takes and ranks them. Friends can challenge each other to see who takes the most steps in one day, one week or one weekend. The app also encourages users to send pokes and messages to one another.

Vaz has 12 friends linked to her account.

“With the leadership boards, you don’t want to be last of all your friends,” she said. “At first, I didn’t think it would be that popular among college students, but I’ve seen it get increasingly popular.”

Burrus and his wife don’t use the app’s challenge feature. Instead, they use the data from their trackers to compare and motivate each other on their own.

“It’s good with family in particular,” Burrus said. “We just keep count of the steps and we see who won on Sunday. We are very competitive. We taunt and cheer each other and send a few messages here and there.”

But, some disagree that this social aspect helps. The competition could demotivate people if they aren’t at the top or the list or lose a challenge.

“I thought about doing it, and that doesn’t seem worth it,” Dulchinos said. “Some days I feel like it would be good to compare others, but other days it could be negatively competitive. I like that I have the data that I can choose to share or not.”

Making use of the data

The Fitbit and Jawbone both have apps that sync with the trackers and display steps, sleep and calories burned throughout the day.

“I like the data,” Burrus said. “I like getting all that data and sorting through it. I am somewhat of a dork for that kind of thing.”

Michael Vaughn, an instructional technologist who teaches Nerdy Fitness Tools to classes, finds that these fitness bands do not pass the “so what” test: they give the user the information but don’t tell them what to do with it.

For example, the heart rate for the fat-burning zone is around 90 bpm, but this low rate could also be caused by stress, when the body is storing fat rather than burning it. The app doesn’t distinguish between the two or tell users what to do if they plateaued in weight loss. It is up to the user to go out of their way to research and apply the data.

“Until they take the information, its more of a measuring stick to see what can be done,” Vaughn said. “It’s more about trying to take the data that’s given to you and make it meaningful in your life.”

Vaughn said the best fitness band, in terms of affordability and features is the Fitbit Charge HR, which tracks heart rate using LED technology. He also said fitness trackers are great motivational tools at first, but it won’t be long before a user ignores the app and stops charging the band.

“You just need to make the commitment alongside to these fitness apps to benefit your health,” Vaughn said. “There has to be more to it.”

A solution is to teach more health and wellness professionals about the bands. They could use them with their customers. If a personal trainer were friends with their client on Fitbit, they could be aware of their activity and challenge them to improve.

Even if users don’t implement the data to make improvements to their lives, these fitness bands can be a constant reminder to move. After a year, Dulchinos is still motivated by looking at the band on her wrist.

“My whole thing with the Fitbit is it’s constantly there and tracking things, and I don’t have to think about it but I can think about it if I want to,” she said.