Amazon Halo Activity Score: Designed to Get You Moving More, Moving Faster, and Sitting Less

Tracking your activity is nothing new for anyone on a health and wellness journey, but Amazon Halo isn’t just another step counter or heart rate monitor — it provides you with tools and insights that are science-backed, and can also help you see measurable improvement (no matter what that means for you). The Halo Activity score is designed to be easy to use and understand, but there’s a lot going on under the surface that we wanted to share with you.

What is Healthy Physical Activity?

In order to design an activity feature that helps customers see meaningful change, we started with the basic question: what is a healthy amount of physical activity? Is it getting 10,000 steps per day? Working out a certain number of days per week? Hitting a particular heart rate threshold? Luckily, a lot of dedicated clinicians and researchers have spent a long time addressing these very questions, which formed the basis of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (PAG), published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The key takeaway is that we should all be striving for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity (or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity) activity per week. Doing so has been shown to increase life span and decrease the risk of developing chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and even certain cancers. It can also boost things like your mood, cognition, and immune system (which has become more important than ever these days).

Some interesting facts about the guidelines: There have only been two editions of the PAG published to date. The first edition was published in 2008. The current edition, which took about three years to complete, is based on a Scientific Advisory Committee Report that was authored by a commissioned panel of 17 national experts, is over 750 pages long, and has over 500 references. In addition to summarizing the evidence supporting the many benefits of physical activity, the committee also concluded there is insufficient evidence to determine whether a relationship exists between the number of steps a person takes per day and their overall health, well-being, and longevity; or if daily steps lead to reduction in incidence of chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Of note, the American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and other governmental or professional societies also publish similar guidelines or scientific position statements.

Emerging Science: Volume and Intensity of Physical Activity

The latest science suggests there are two aspects of physical activity that have positive impact on health and longevity: volume and intensity. Volume of physical activity refers to the amount or duration of physical activity in terms of minutes per day or minutes per week. Intensity of physical activity refers to the amount of effort or physical exertion involved in doing those activities — typically categorized as light intensity, moderate intensity, or vigorous intensity activities.

As recently as a few years ago, experts believed that only moderate or vigorous intensity activities were correlated to heart health and longevity. However, two different studies published over the past two years, after the guidelines were released, demonstrated that even activities of light intensity can lead to better health and a longer life span. The key is, you need to engage in a higher volume of light intensity activities to realize those benefits.

Halo Activity Score

With this baseline understanding of what defines a healthy amount of physical activity, we created the Halo Activity score, which helps guide customers to earning 150 points, calculated based on duration and intensity, per week. Let’s break down the three components of the score:

1. 150 points: Given the recommendation to strive for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, the Halo Activity score sets 150 points as an initial target.
2. Activity Intensity: As noted above, recent medical research suggests that any type of physical activity — including light activity — has some positive impact on heart health, so Halo awards you points for every minute of movement. But an important distinction is that not all steps work your heart in the same way, so you’ll earn more points for higher intensity activities. For example, you’ll earn some points for walking, but you’ll earn more for running. Halo uses motion and heart rate to calculate the intensity level for all daily activities, including going on a morning jog, walking around at the grocery store, or dancing around the kitchen with your family (or all by yourself!).
3. Per Week: Halo activity points accrue every day, but the goal is a weekly one. Not only is this aligned with medical physical activity recommendations, it’s also more customer friendly. We all have varying lifestyles and responsibilities, especially these days with social distancing restrictions. But the science tells us that if you miss a day of working out or getting your steps in, that’s okay! As long as you hit the baseline goal of 150 points per week, you’re on track.

There is also a fourth piece to the Halo Activity score: sedentary time. Sleep is really important, and I hope you’re getting at least an 80/100 Halo Sleep score every night. But once you’re awake for the day, the science tells us that being sedentary for long periods of time — including sitting, standing around, or lying down — negatively impacts your health. There are no specific guideline recommendations yet on the exact amount of non-sedentary time we should aim for, but looking at several studies (take a look here, here, and here), there is a substantial negative health impact beyond eight hours. So, Halo subtracts points if you’ve accumulated more than eight hours of sedentary time in a day (not counting your sleep). I’ve personally been much more mindful of my sedentary time as a result — my colleagues often see me pacing around during calls to avoid losing points.

Get Moving!

I’m a cardiologist, so of course this is all especially near and dear to my heart (no pun intended). But countless studiesshow the benefits of getting a healthy amount of physical activity every week, and that’s our ultimate goal with the Halo Activity feature. For folks who are already active, we hope this score helps you understand your activity level in a new, more useful way and inspires you to move even more. I love those occasions when I hit 150 points within a week and my goal refreshes to 300 — it’s extremely motivating.

And for folks who are just starting out, or haven’t found the right routine yet, the Halo Activity score is designed to help you get to a healthy level of weekly activity — so you don’t end up pacing around the house at night to hit a daily goal, or feel bad when work or family obligations get in the way of your morning walk.

Regardless of your activity level, Halo fitness labs are a great resource for anyone looking to be more active. Experts including the Amazon Halo team, Orangetheory Fitness, Aaptiv, Openfit, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, and SWEAT co-founder Kayla Itsines, have provided hundreds of on-demand workouts and fitness programs for you to choose from. Whether you’re looking to keep your existing routine fresh, or for the inspiration to try something totally new, there’s a workout for everyone.

It’s only Day 1 for Amazon Halo and we’ll continue to monitor the science and improve over time. We look forward to hearing what you think about the Halo Activity score.

Maulik Majmudar is the Principal Medical Officer for Amazon Halo. His current health and wellness goal is to engage in 10 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity every day.