Reviewed by Lexie CornerApr 4 2025
Recent research led by the University of Bristol suggests that smartwatches could offer a more accurate assessment of people's daily drinking habits compared to current methods. This technology could play a key role in future alcohol intervention strategies.
The AlcoWatch can be used to record data about daily drinking. Image Credit: University of Bristol
Alcohol abuse costs NHS England £3.5 billion annually, and in the UK, 70 people die each day from alcohol-related causes.
This study (‘AlcoWatch’) is the first to use newly developed smartwatch-based methods, known as micro Ecological Momentary Assessment, to collect extensive, self-reported data on alcohol intake over an extended period.
The most common method for recording daily alcohol consumption is the online diary-based technique called Timeline Followback (TLFB). However, TLFB has limitations, such as the difficulty users have recalling specific details about the alcoholic beverages consumed when asked days or weeks later.
This study aimed to explore the feasibility of using smartwatch-based methods for alcohol data collection, the acceptability of these methods across various socioeconomic groups, and whether engagement levels were higher compared to TLFB.
Thirty-two participants from the Children of the 90s health research in Bristol wore off-the-shelf Android smartwatches running a custom-developed 'AlcoWatch' data capture application. Over 12 weeks, participants were prompted five times a day to report any alcohol consumed in the previous two hours, the location of consumption, and whether they were alone or with others.
Participants also completed bi-weekly online diaries using TLFB. At the end of the study, they took part in semi-structured interviews regarding their experiences.
The study found that participants were more engaged with the ‘AlcoWatch’ method than TLFB.
One of the primary advantages of increased engagement is that it minimizes the amount of missing data, making the findings of any analyses of drinking practices more reliable. The researchers also discovered lower levels of involvement among lower socioeconomic participants compared to those in higher socioeconomic categories.
Overall, the study concluded that the ‘AlcoWatch’ smartwatch-based system is a viable tool for collecting alcohol consumption data. It was well-received by participants and offers a practical solution for monitoring alcohol habits in real-world settings. This provides the opportunity for more detailed studies of drinking behavior over both short and long time periods.
Our study demonstrates that smartwatches have considerable potential for capturing data about alcohol-drinking behavior in people’s real-life environments.
Chris Stone, Senior Research Associate, Wearable Technology Application Development, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, University of Bristol
Dr. Andy Skinner, Senior Research Fellow and Digital Projects Lead in the Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Program at the University of Bristol, put the new findings in the context of their wider work, and added, “We recently demonstrated the usefulness of smartwatches for capturing data about smoking behaviors with ‘StopWatch’—our smartwatch-based based smoking cessation intervention. This new study builds on that previous work, demonstrating that smartwatch-based methods for data capture could help researchers explore a much wider range of health-related behaviors, and develop new interventions to help with important issues like problematic drinking.”
The research team recommends further studies to investigate the factors influencing participants' reduced engagement, as well as the comfort of wearing smartwatches and other devices, their battery life, and the frequency of required charges.
Additional research should explore why engagement differs between individuals from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds and examine the reasons for these disparities.
Dr. Andy Skinner received a UKRI Innovation Fellowship to support the study, which was conducted at the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MRC IEU) and the Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme (ICEP), supported by Cancer Research UK.
The Children of the 90s study, also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), was a longitudinal cohort study supported by the University of Bristol, Wellcome, and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
Journal Reference:
Stone, C., et al. (2025) Smartwatch-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment for High-Temporal-Density, Longitudinal Measurement of Alcohol Use (AlcoWatch): Feasibility Evaluation. JMIR Formative Research. doi.org/10.2196/63184