The study used an accelerometer instead of a standard questionnaire to record the participants activities. Accelerometers are motion-sensing devices that electronically record and store daily movement patterns and intensity of the said movement by those who wear it. The recorded data is downloaded for analysis. For this particular study, the participants wore the accelerometers within four to seven days. The researchers reportedly still observed significantly lower mortality associated with each time, independently of the other, regardless whether the participants did either a light or moderate-to-vigorous activity.
