Jessica D. Faul, MPH, PhD

Using Wearable Devices to Assess Physical Activity and Sleep Behavior in the Health and Retirement Study

Increasingly it has become feasible to use wearable devices to assess physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep patterns among large numbers of participants in epidemiologic and cohort studies, allowing for more precise assessments of these behaviors and examination of their associations with health outcomes.  In 2019, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) used the GENEactiv wrist device to measure physical activity and sleep over 10 days among 380 pilot study participants.  Devices were sent to and returned by consenting participants via mail along with a short