From Fitbits and calorie-counting apps to Strava and Apple Fitness, the technology, apps and devices needed to track health have become a massive consumer market.

Technology aimed at health can, however, damage people’s wellbeing if their focus instead turns into obsession, new research has found.

Researchers from the University of Liege in Belgium found that users generally fall into three categories: those who engage with the technology early before losing interest, people who form stable, long-term usage and those who become obsessive and over-engaged with it.

Lisa Baiwir, a PhD candidate at the University of Liege, said health technologies are becoming more integrated into people’s daily lives.

“It’s crucial to understand the factors that lead to over-engagement and ill-being,” she said.

“Designers of health apps can mitigate these risks.”

The study’s authors, including Baiwir, called for the designers of devices and apps to consider the potential negative outcomes when making design choices, rather than “encouraging users to constantly strive for more when it comes to their fitness or nutrition choices”.

The study

Researchers performed an in-depth analysis of 30 users of health technologies, where participants embraced health apps, and wearables like Fitbits and trackers for various reasons, including losing weight, improving performance, monitoring data during workouts or forming health routines.

“I would use it again, but more in an informational way, sometimes just out of curiosity to see what I was eating, to make sure that I would still be careful, but with some slack,” said one participant, who used a calorie counting app.

“I’m using the app. The app is not using me”.

Apps that help people’s calorie count can instead result in mental health impacts. Photo: Getty

The researchers found that some users can reach the level of obsessive engagement where they “adopt extreme and dangerous behaviours to reach their goals”.

Participants reported questioning the genuine health benefits of tracking apps, stating they “personally feel that when you’re using those kinds of apps [calorie counter apps], your mental health will always be at stake”.

“You are not doing it innocently, in the sense that there is always some kind of objective behind, like a weight loss,” they said.

“There is already an uneasiness regarding yourself and the app will reflect it.”

The research found many users had positive health outcomes from the technology, but some were unable to separate from the obsessive tracking of biometrics provided.

Damaging behaviour

Compulsive exercising has been linked to eating disorders, neuroticism and obsessive-compulsive disorders, and some users of wellbeing technology may “adopt extreme and dangerous behaviours to reach their goals”, according to the research.

“This over-engagement and compulsion might be further strengthened by the never-ending
improvement circle that (preventive health technologies) tend to foster,” the research said.

“The technology could also detect patterns of over-engagement and implement potential pathways to help consumers detach from compulsive patterns and fall back into moderate relationships.”

Other studies have found that fitness devices and apps can have a positive impact, including improved physical fitness, decreases in weight and increased activity.