Research X’cellence: Our StFX community leveraging expertise on today’s most pressing challenges. At StFX, innovative research and creative activity are benefiting our communities, addressing some of today’s most pressing challenges. Research X’cellence shines a spotlight on members of our inspiring educational community and the impact they’re making. (To see the full series, please click HERE.)
Dr. Ryan Reid: Helping people move more, sit less, and sleep better
Helping people move more, sit less, and sleep better is at the heart of Dr. Ryan Reid’s work. The StFX human kinetics professor studies how wearable technology can be used to improve health and support healthier lifestyles.
What drives his research is simple. “To help people,” he says without hesitation.
That motivation shapes his work across health care, human kinetics, and health technology. While his research relies on data, its ultimate focus is impact. Dr. Reid is working to find practical ways to improve health, reduce the burden of chronic disease, and help people live better lives, both physically and mentally.
Chronic conditions such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, and multiple sclerosis affect millions of people. Dr. Reid says lifestyle behaviours, such as physical activity, sleep, and reduced sedentary time, can be powerful tools in health care. Not only can these behaviours reduce the risk of developing disease, they can also lessen its impact once it’s present. In some cases, lifestyle changes can rival pharmaceutical interventions, while also offering additional benefits such as improved mental well-being and greater independence, he notes.
He sees opportunity to help people through the technology they already use.
As wearables such as smartwatches (e.g., Fitbit, Apple Watch) and rings have become more sophisticated and reliable, they’ve evolved from expensive, research-only devices into everyday tools capable of monitoring such things as heart rate, physical activity, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and even detecting events like falls, irregular heart rhythms, and sleep apnea. Today, nearly half of Canadians walk into health care settings already wearing these devices—devices that are already collecting valuable data.
Earlier in his research, Dr. Reid surveyed people around their use of wearable technology and spoke with primary care professionals. Although people generally buy a smartwatch to get more active, they rarely understand how to use it for that purpose. In healthcare, the main barrier was that there is never enough time to look at patients’ data and teach them about exercise. Given the lack of kinesiologists in our healthcare system, officials indicated it would be beneficial if there was a way they could give patients a link or a QR code as they left each visit with information on how to be more active and how they should be exercising.
Dr. Reid sees the potential in using these devices as an opportunity to focus on education.
WATCH AND LEARN INITIATIVE
His current research centres on the Watch and Learn initiative—short, two-minute educational videos designed with his StFX research students to give people actionable guidance on healthy lifestyle behaviours and how to use their wearable data effectively.
Dr. Reid and his students have created 12 modules, starting with Apple users due to their widespread adoption, with plans to expand to Fitbit and Garmin devices. Over the next phase, approximately 120 participants will be recruited to evaluate whether the videos improve knowledge, understanding of guidelines, and confidence in using wearable features. The goal is to validate the program and prepare it for use in physician offices by the end of 2026 so that patients will leave with a link or QR code to the videos.
It's a research area Dr. Reid has long been passionate about. In his earlier work in bariatrics (weight loss) surgery, activity monitoring, and working with individuals living with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, and other chronic conditions, he saw firsthand how tailored interventions and helping people understand their own data could help empower positive change.
He’s also had a lifelong passion for health. Dr. Reid comes from a family that understands the impact of chronic disease. His mother has lived with type 1 diabetes since childhood while his father lives with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. After his grandfather died of a heart attack at the age of 34, his grandmother, suddenly a single mother raising three children, prioritized activity and healthy habits to mitigate risk. Seeing his mother prioritize movement to manage her disease, helped shape Dr. Reid’s belief that while genetics cannot be changed, lifestyle choices can help influence outcomes.
Since joining the StFX faculty in January 2020, Dr. Reid has taught introductory anatomy and physiology to nursing and human kinetics students. He also teaches elective courses which focus on public health interventions, chronic disease management, and innovations in healthcare. Moreover, he has involved and mentored 25 students in his research. Several of these students have gone on to medical school.
Dr. Reid says he misses the one-on-one clinical interactions of his earlier roles, but he sees his current work as a way to help more people, both through teaching and mentoring the next generation of health professionals and through research work designed to help people become more informed and more in control of their health.
