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Lecture Notes

The fourth common way to measure physical activity is using an accelerometer, and here it's a small, again it's a very lightweight device, it's about the same size as a pedometer. It uses electronic sensors to measure the quantity and the intensity of movement. So instead of, unlike the pedometer, it is able to capture the intensity of movement. The good thing is that it, again, measures and stores your data on intensity, frequency, how often, how long people participate in activity, and it can be much more sensitive than a pedometer. The problems are that they're very expensive, so a couple hundred dollars per unit, so for one accelerometer we're talking, let's say, $300, and it still doesn't capture all of your bodily movements. So again, if you went swimming you can't take most of them in the water, and again, some upper body movements may not be captured by the unit as well.