Data Studies
Over the next couple of months, we will be sharing activity data as it relates to: countries, cities, age and the fourth piece will be a surprise!
Activity data can help us understand a country’s lifestyle habits
By observing a country’s weekday activity levels, we can learn a lot about their schedules and habits. Parents may get straight in their cars and drive to work after breakfast, or take a walking detour to the nanny’s house. Some people work through lunch furiously typing away at their desks, while others use it an an excuse to get away and meet with colleagues or friends. The French value a leisurely lunch as a time to relax and connect with friends. In Germany , the UK and the US, people tend to eat more quickly; grabbing a sandwich and eating at a desk is more common than sitting down to a two hour lunch. The following chart details an analysis of average steps broken down in hour increments to help us understand what goes on between the time we wake and the time we sleep. For this study, we have chosen to look at the US, UK, Germany, and France.
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Analyzing the data
As we turn to the data, we observe that Americans are the first to people to wake up. Between 5 am and 6 am they have already walked an average of 111 steps. The Germans, who are the second group to be awake will take an additional 45 minutes to reach the same activity level. Although Americans are the earliest risers, based on the data we can see that by 7 am, when all the other countries are awake, the Americans have been passed for average number of steps. In fact, US activity levels remain lower than France, Germany and the UK for the rest of the day. The first valley in activity levels occurs at 10 AM, conceivably once people have settled into their desks for the day. At 12:00, we see a peak in activity as people walk to lunch.
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How to use this data
By the end of the day, the French walk 6330 steps, Germans 6337, British 6322, and Americans 5815. It is important to note that the average daily-recommended number of steps per day is 10,000. These four countries have very similar lifestyle schemes in terms of activity levels. Europeans are most closely related, and we can observe that Americans have an earlier start to the day with less overall activity. No matter what time each country gets up, or what time they take an afternoon coffee break, all countries are falling far below the daily steps recommendation. To add more activity to your day, try a walking meeting, a lunchtime errand run, or an after dinner stroll.Stay tuned for more data stories about varying activity levels and what they mean!
About the data
This study was conducted with a panel of Withings users. Withings guarantees the confidentiality of personal data and protects the privacy of all its users. Therefore, all data used for this study was rigorously anonymized and aggregated.
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