The MIT Movement Project

We present an experimental study investigating trends in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's physical activity patterns and factors affecting activity levels. Physical activity was measured using steps taken per day and the study was conducted using historical and collected data of 20 subjects. Step data was measured and stored in the iPhone Health application and submitted through a custom MIT Movement Project iPhone application. The results showed a correlation between steps taken and day of the week, with fewer steps being taken towards the middle of the class week. Additionally, steps variations occurred during major holidays and events. Temperature and rainfall also relate to steps taken with higher temperatures and less rain correlating with more steps taken. Furthermore, individual factors also affected an individual participant's daily step count. Higher stress levels correlated with fewer steps taken and less activity overall while fewer hours of sleep led to increased number of steps per day, likely due to the larger number of awake hours. To further increase physical activity levels on its campus, we recommend that MIT investigate the possibility of specific campaigns to target low-activity level time periods and look to expand its physical education programs for all members of its community.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Jiang, Christine W. (Christine Wei)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anette Hosoi.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105701

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/105701