Page 43 - DIGITAL e-Book RCPH 2026

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1 REGIONAL CONFERENCE onon Organised by: :

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PRECISION HEALTH
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P P R E C I S I O N H E A L T H
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Abstracts for 1st Regional Conference on Precision Health (RCPH)
15-16th April 2026, Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur
From Apps and Wearables to Policy: Enhancing Physical Activity for Wellness
Professor Dr. Poh Bee Koon
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Physical activity is important for health, disease prevention, and well-being, yet inactivity remains
common. Advances in technology have changed how physical activity can be measured and
supported. Wearables, smartphone applications, and accelerometer-based tools can now capture
more than step counts, including intensity, sedentary time, sleep, and daily movement patterns. This
creates new opportunities for precision health, where physical activity can be monitored more closely
and recommendations can be tailored to individuals. This presentation will discuss how physical
activity promotion is changing in precision health era. It will first revisit the long-used 10,000 steps/day
message and show how newer evidence suggests that benefits begin below this level, and that step
targets may differ by age, baseline activity, and health status. It will then consider how current
monitoring tools support a broader understanding of movement behaviour, while also raising questions
about validity, interpretation, adherence, and fitness for purpose. A key point is that the best monitoring
tool is not the most advanced one, but the one most suited to the question being asked. Examples from
published work in Malaysian children using objective physical activity measurement will be used to
illustrate issues in device- based monitoring across paediatric age groups, including tool selection,
protocol design, and the value of examining 24-hour movement behaviours rather than physical activity
alone. The presentation will also highlight that better measurement alone is not enough. Even with
more tailored monitoring and advice, physical activity is still shaped by daily routines, environments
that discourage movement, and the extent to which schools, workplaces, and health services support
activity. Enhancing physical activity for wellness therefore requires not only digital tools and better data,
but also systems, institutions, and policies that make physical activity more feasible in daily life.