In a world increasingly obsessed with health, the fitness technology market is booming. Whether you’re a serious athlete or just enjoy a casual run or cycle around your local park on a Sunday morning, it seems more and more of us are using fitness devices and activity trackers to record our efforts.

But what is the motivation for measuring every aspect of a workout? Can it inspire us to go further, faster or longer? Sharing our performances online allows us to compete virtually with pretty much anyone across the globe – but does it risk turning every training session into a race?

Presenter Lowri Morgan talks to the CEO of one of the most popular activity trackers Strava which has more than 36 million members. James Quarles says the main reasons why people use these apps and devices are motivation, competition and simply recording your efforts.

But in South Africa in the township of Soweto, the local cycling club is using the data from activity trackers to try to persuade sponsors and professional cycling teams to take on their best riders. They say the statistics help back up their claims about the potential of a rider.

While for many these devices and apps are a great help in motivating us to exercise, for some they can increase the risk of exercise addiction. Sport psychologist Dr Josie Perry says athletes can do many more miles training than is necessary simply because they are chasing an online challenge.

Lowri meets cyclist Ben Dowman from the UK who says in the past he became somewhat obsessed with trying to top the leader board on his activity tracker – even monitoring the weather to know when the wind direction would be most favourable to beat his rivals’ times.

As more of us record every step, pedal stroke and heartbeat, these apps and devices are changing the face of exercise as we compare, share and compete online.

Presenter: Lowri Morgan

(Photo: Female cyclist points to a smart watch on her wrist showing heart rate./Photo credit: ipopba\Getty )

Whether it’s climbing Everest, hiking through the Amazon jungle or cycling round the world, why are more of us taking on extreme endurance challenges which push our minds and bodies to the limit?

Marathons now seem commonplace and a whole new breed of extreme events have come along such as the double, triple or even Deca Ironman, sailing thousands of miles alone, multi-day adventure races and activities that defy description.

She talks to other runners about what motivates them to tackle such long distances, often in extreme conditions. We hear from one competitor racing in the Himalayas who started taking on endurance challenges after a difficult time in his life. Another runner who is attempting to get the record number of ultra marathons in a year and run a thousand marathons in four years, says he has yet to celebrate any of his achievements.

According to experts, the main motivation for competitors is to test themselves to the limit and to set and achieve a goal. Endurance athletes appear to have a higher tolerance to pain than the rest of us and a more positive mood, not only after a race but during their daily lives too.

But for many, the satisfaction they feel when they have completed such an extreme event means they soon come back for more.

Presenter: Lowri Morgan

Producer: Paul Grant

Editor: Gail Champion

(Photo: Endurance athlete Lowri Morgan in training / Photo credit: Lowri Morgan)

We are asking why so many people are fascinated by Zombies. For many people the Zombie is a walking corpse that’s out to bite you, and turn you into a similarly mindless, flesh craving undead person. What’s not to like? And we seem to be going through a bit of a Zombie boom with TV series like The Walking Dead capturing the imagination of audiences worldwide.

But Zombies have been around for more than a hundred years. They first came to the attention of the American public through a book called The Magic Island, about Haiti written by William Seabrook in 1929. And we will be exploring why many say there’s more to Zombies than a reliable source of Hollywood horror. Perhaps they tell us something about significant, deep divisions at large in society. We will be tracing their history through the centuries and continents – from Africa through to Central America, the US and Europe.

Photo: A man dressed up as a Zombie

Why do some instruments get all the tunes and the respect, while others are left at the bottom of the heap? The leader of the orchestra is always a violinist, and the guitarist usually gets to leap around at the front of the band. Meanwhile other instruments, like the drums, don’t get a lot of attention - except when it comes to being the butt of jokes.

Matt Allwright is on a mission to uncover the source of this terrible injustice, and find out whether his own beloved “low status” instrument – the pedal steel guitar – can ever find the spotlight.

Guests include:

• Stewart Copeland – The Police (drums)

Wine has been referred to as the nectar of the gods, and has been tempting connoisseurs for centuries. But contained in this simple pleasure is an incredibly complex product; and anyone interested in reaching the pinnacle of the wine world must learn more about what goes into every wine bottle than most of us will ever take the time to know. In this edition of the Why Factor on the BBC World Service, Sandra Kanthal speaks to experts of the wine trade to find out why there is so much to discover from a bottle of wine.

Image: Wine being poured (Credit: Getty Images)

It’s a bite in Mexico, a sweetener in Britain, Tea money in Cambodia. Why do we collude with corruption when it’s unfair and costs us billions of dollars?

Nastaran Tavakoli-Far examines the moral quandaries we face when asked to pay a bribe. She talks to a whistle-blower, a businessman imprisoned for corruption and experts and ordinary people affected by bribery in different parts of the world. It’s estimated that 1.6 billion people have to pay bribes just to access public services. When so many countries have signed up to fight corruption, why is it so difficult to stamp out?

(Photo: Handing over cash. Credit: Getty Images)

We all need a place to call our own. For a lot of men, that place is the garden shed. Going to the shed is sometimes seen as eccentric or strange behaviour. What is it about the space inside those four wooden walls, among the tools and the junk, that men love so much?

In this episode of The Why Factor on the BBC World Service, Nastaran Tavakoli-Far tries to understand the special bond men have with their sheds. Sociologists say men go to their sheds to escape from the female and family-dominated home - the only nearby place they can think of as ‘male’. There they can make their contribution to the running and maintenance of the home. Or they may be seeking a place to think and to create great art.

In any case, psychologists argue that the shed allows men to enjoy solitude, which is crucial in how they process their feelings and emotions. Men have been socialised into their sheds and their solitude. However, that solitude can become loneliness, which psychiatrists know can lead to significant physical and mental health problems. They go to their sheds alone, and can experience an emptiness if friends and family are absent. Nas learns how the shed is being used around the world to bring men together and help them express themselves.

Photo: Gary at his shed.

The horse has been part of human society since earliest times – archaeologists have unearthed evidence from over 5000 years ago in central Asia. Over the centuries, the horse has been celebrated in myths and legend, it has played a role as human society developed, in farming, in warfare and in the industrial revolution. Today’s thoroughbreds are valued in millions of dollars for their potential to win races and massive prize-money for their owners – while owning a pony is the romantic dream of countless young girls.

Caz Graham explores the deep connection between horses and humans. She hears the reasons why horses are so much a part of daily life Mongolia, and how the fell ponies of northern England are valued for their capacity to work.

For all our shared history, there remains a strong element of mystery about horses. Many people believe in the therapeutic potential of horses but the science behind it remains difficult to pin down. In this programme Caz hears from academics, authors, legendary racehorse trainers, as well as those individuals who love their horses, in order to understand more about the special relationship between the horse and humans.

Photo: Alex with one of her horses

Every day we’re bombarded with information and, with each new story or alternative fact, we have to decide what we believe to be true.

But some of the mental short cuts we take to sift through this material allow us to be deceived: past experiences, political beliefs and laziness can all cloud our judgment. In this episode of The Why Factor, Sandra Kanthal explores why truth can be elusive. We’ll meet a woman who discovered her husband had been lying to her for 15 years, and fought through her pain to find the truth. We talk with one psychologist who argues that critical thinking skills can be weaponised to encourage a person to believe in conspiracy theories; and to someone who, through extensive research, is convinced the earth is flat. People shape their identities around their notion of truth. This may go some way to explain why it is easier to fool someone than to convince them they have been fooled.

Producer: Chris Browning

Picture: Goldfish Shark

Fake News - sometimes it’s obvious to spot, other times it requires more thoughtful investigation. That’s a fact checker’s job; dedicated researchers trying to flesh out what is true and what is not in the deluge of information we see every day. In 2015 the International Fact Checking Network was established to give strength to this small but dedicated group. It now has 62 verified signatories. In this episode of the Why Factor on the BBC World Service, Sandra Kanthal speaks with fact checkers from Turkey, the Philippines and Brazil; to find out what motivates them to combat Fake News, especially in countries where speaking truth to power comes with considerable risk. How do they do this difficult job, and why are they so determined to improve the skills all of us can use to call out false claims?

Photo: A fact checking journalist at work