Activity belts

As part of the measurements you will be asked to wear an activity belt for six days. These belts hold two devices on them; one that measures movement, called an accelerometer; and one that records location, called a GPS receiver. This allows us to record not only how much activity has occurred, but also when, how much, and importantly, where the activity took place.

How do I switch the monitors on and off?

The red box, the activity monitor, will already have been switched on when you first get it. You don’t need to worry about switching it off and on.

The black box, the GPS, needs a little more attention. A PEAR Project researcher will instruct you how to use it when they hand out your belt. You must switch it on when you first get it, and only switch it off when you take off the belt to go to bed each night. When you switch it off each night you will also need to charge the battery overnight using the charger provided in your pack.

How should the belt be worn?

GPS closeup Red box

First, you need to make sure the GPS is recording. You do this by moving the switch on the side of the black box to LOG. The lights will flash on the front and it will beep once. An orange light should stay on, on the front of the device. If no lights come on when you switch the GPS to LOG the battery needs charging. Charge the GPS using the charger provided.

The belt should be worn below the waist, so that the red box sits on right hip bone. There is a small black bump (looks like a button) on one side of the box, this black bump should always be facing upwards when the belt is in the correct position. The black GPS box can be anywhere on the belt.

When should the belt be worn?

The belt should be worn for as much of each day as possible from the day it is given out, until the day it is handed back to the research team. The belt can be worn from the time you get up until the time you go to bed on weekdays and weekends alike. Please wear it as much as possible while you have it!

When should the belt NOT be worn?

There are certain times when the belts should be taken off:

When bathing, swimming or taking a shower (electrical devices don’t like water too much!)
When sleeping, as it is not comfortable to sleep with the belt on and it will not record relevant information
When playing very rough contact sports or activities. The belt should be worn for most sports, games and activities. It can be worn for hockey, football, gymnastics, netball, scooting, running, cycling and most of the things that you do. There are some contact sports that involve quite rough contact, for example karate or rugby, and in these cases it may be sensible to take the belt off.

When the kit should be returned

The belt, along with the rest of the kit, must be returned to school on the seventh day (i.e. 6 days after it is handed out). For instance if you were given your kit on a Tuesday, it will be collected on the following Monday from your school.

Late kit

Sometimes students forget to bring their kit back in on the collection day. If this happens to you, please remember to bring it in the next day. Even though it is returned late, it still holds valuable data, therefore we really need to collect it back in as soon as possible.

In addition to the valuable data, the accelerometers and GPS receivers themselves are expensive to buy. The units hold no value or practical use by themselves, as they only work when used with a specialised computer programme that we have here. Lost accelerometers and GPS receivers will have to be replaced in order to test other children; this is at huge cost to the project which is publicly funded. Can we please ask you to make your best efforts to ensure that all belts are returned to the school, even if they are returned late.