Quitting smoking may be easier with a smartwatch app, researchers say
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Motion-sensor software sent alerts to prevent lighting up at most vulnerable moments for those trying to quit. Smartwatches could be used to help people quit smoking, a study suggests. Researchers have developed pioneering motion sensor software that can detect the typical hand movements that occur when someone is holding a cigarette.
When cigarette use is detected, an alert flashes up on the smartwatch screen. An app on the device delivers a vibration with a text message designed by smokers and former smokers, offering support to stop smoking. One message reads “Stopping smoking lets you breathe more easily … Quitting is good”, while others contain a tally of how many cigarettes were smoked and the total number of drags taken that day.
The researchers, from the University of Bristol, believe their app is the first just-in-time intervention for preventing smoking relapse that runs entirely on a smartwatch and does not need to be paired with a smartphone. Chris Stone, of the University of Bristol’s tobacco and alcohol research group, said an initial lapse was a vulnerable moment for people trying to quit, and risked leading to a full relapse to smoking.
“People like smartwatches. They like the idea of it delivering a message at the point that they smoke. “Therefore, if we can identify this point of lapse, and deliver an intervention precisely at that point, we have an opportunity to improve the success of the quit attempt.”.
Stone added: “We have aimed to harness the latest thinking in intervention design, and deliver it in a convenient wearable package with minimal burden to the user and maximum engagement with behaviour change; and in doing so, make a difference to people’s lives.”.
