Tagged For A Week

The blip photo is of an activity tag that arrived in the post yesterday from UK Biobank. You have to put it on immediately and wear it for a week. Mine switches itself off on 21 November. I feel like a criminal. We're flying to Iceland tomorrow for four days, so it would have been better if it arrived when we got back, but I didn't know they'd send it out so quick! The wife and I were recruited in 2006.

UK Biobank is a major national health resource, and a registered charity in its own right, with the aim of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses – including cancer, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, eye disorders, depression and forms of dementia.

UK Biobank recruited 500,000 people aged between 40-69 years in 2006-2010 from across the country to take part in this project. They have undergone measures, provided blood, urine and saliva samples for future analysis, detailed information about themselves and agreed to have their health followed. Over many years this will build into a powerful resource to help scientists discover why some people develop particular diseases and others do not.

The wristband is an activity monitor. Here's what their site says about it:

Physical activity is known to affect health in many ways, but it has been hard to measure accurately (even with detailed questionnaires). Advances in technology are changing this, and UK Biobank wants to take advantage of them. Information gathered with activity monitors will help scientists better understand how physical activity affects health.

There are no health risks associated with wearing an activity monitor. All you would need to do is wear it on your wrist for a week. It is designed to be worn 24 hours a day, whether you are working or sleeping, having a bath or shower, or playing sport. It does not matter how active you are, or if you are more or less active than usual during the week that you wear it.

So for a week I'm doing my bit for charity, society and people's future health!

Anyone else doing it?