Designing an App to Promote Physical Exercise in Sedentary People Using a Day-to-Day Algorithm to Ensure a Healthy Self-Programmed Exercise Training

Antonio Casanova-Lizón; José M Sarabia; Diego Pastor; Alejandro Javaloyes; Iván Peña-González; Manuel Moya-Ramón

doi:10.3390/ijerph20021528

Designing an App to Promote Physical Exercise in Sedentary People Using a Day-to-Day Algorithm to Ensure a Healthy Self-Programmed Exercise Training

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 14;20(2):1528. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021528.

Authors

Antonio Casanova-Lizón¹, José M Sarabia^{1

2}, Diego Pastor², Alejandro Javaloyes¹, Iván Peña-González¹, Manuel Moya-Ramón^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Sports Research Centre, Department of Sport Sciences, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, 03202 Elche, Spain.
² Department of Sport Sciences, Miguel Hernandez University, Alicante Institute for Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), 03010 Alicante, Spain.

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) has allowed the implementation of a methodology for daily decision making called day-to-day training, which allows data to be recorded by anyone with a smartphone. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the validity and reliability of HRV measurements with a new mobile app (Selftraining UMH) in two resting conditions. Twenty healthy people (10 male and 10 female) were measured at rest in supine and seated positions with an electrocardiogram and an application for smartphones at the same time (Selftraining UMH) using recordings obtained through an already validated chest-worn heart rate monitor (Polar H10). The Selftraining UMH app showed no significant differences compared to an electrocardiogram, neither in supine nor in sitting position (p > 0.05) and they presented almost perfect correlation levels (r ≥ 0.99). Furthermore, no significant differences were found between ultra-short (1-min) and short (5-min) length measurements. The intraclass correlation coefficient showed excellent reliability (>0.90) and the standard error of measurement remained below 5%. The Selftraining UMH smartphone app connected via Bluetooth to the Polar H10 chest strap can be used to register daily HRV recordings in healthy sedentary people.

Keywords: app; exercise training; heart rate variability; short and ultra-short measurements.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Exercise
Female
Heart Rate / physiology
Humans
Male
Mobile Applications*
Reproducibility of Results
Smartphone

Grants and funding

The preparation of this article was financially supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Plan Nacional de I + D + I; Ref: PID2019-107721RB-I00). A. Casanova-Lizón was supported by a predoctoral grant given by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Spain (FPU19/01032).