The Weird Secrets Fitness Trackers Know About Us

Fitness trackers collect tons of stuff. Here are some of the surprises all that data reveals about the human collective.

The Quantified Self

I know people out there who believe collecting enough data about themselves turns into perfect fitness and eternal bliss. For me something  tracking my every move (literally) is not a comfortable idea.

But yet I’m a hypocrite and happy that some people do go with it, because it gives us unique insights into how the world ticks.

Here’s what came out when one manufacturer of a fitness tracking wristband, Jawbone, published some of their data.

Who Goes To Bed First?

According to Jawbone, Muscovites love to stay up much longer than people in Australia’s Brisbane, the world’s capital of saving candles and electric light.

• People in Brisbane don’t watch late night shows and go to bed at 10.57 pm
• New York, surprise, comes close at 11 pm
• In Moscow people hit the feathers a whopping two hours later: 0.46 am

…And Who Gets Up Earliest?

But Brisbaners also enjoy the earliest of all worldwide mornings:

• Brisbane says hello world at 6.29 am
• Moscow has to catch up sleep and are last to get out of the feathers: 8.08 am
• In Dubai, 10% of people still sleep at 11 am, but another 10% are always awake

On average, by the way, 5% of any given place are up at all times. I assume not always the same people. Otherwise there’d be some really weird experiments with sleep deprivation going on.

Who Sleeps Longest?

With that we can calculate how much sleep people in these spots get.  New York the city that never sleeps? Not really! But on the whole, the world doesn’t sleep enough (for adults that would be 7 to 8 hours).

• Melbourne gets the most sleep with 6 hours and 58 minutes
• Berlin sleeps 6 hours, 49 minutes
• New York is close to Berlin with 6 hours and 47 minutes
• Tokyo is the most sleep-deprived: 5 hours and 44 minutes
• The whole of South Korea plays catch-up with Tokyo at 5 hours and 56 minutes

And one eleven more words about New York: during the weekends, the fitness tracker data shows, people do a Lionel Richie and party all night long.

Who Walks The Most?

Swedes in Stockholm can’t stand still, while Brazilians in São Paulo internalized that staying put conserves energy:

• People in Stockholm are global walking champions with 8,876 steps per day
• In the US, New York is the city that walks the most: 8,704 steps
• Florida’s Miami its lethargic counterpart with 6,734
• But Brazilians in São Paulo take the least steps at 6,254
• My fellow Germans in Berlin make it to the upper third with 8,134

Assuming that one step is about 60 cm (around 2 feet), the Stockholmers walk 5.3 km or 3.3 miles per day. That’s counting everything, including going to the bathroom, but still impressive.

It’s Not Representative

You can play with tons more of Jawbone’s data over at their site.

But keep in mind it only represents those people wearing the Jawbone contraption and that the majority of those are young people with an interest in health and fitness. And money to spare. The Jawbone Up bands that collected the data cost a mean $79.99 to $149.99.

Do You Wear A Fitness Tracker?

What about you? Do you wear a fitness tracker? And does that little spy on your wrist (or wherever) do something useful for you?

Picture courtesy of Kazuhiro Keino.