Not all fitness devices or smart watches will change your life; many of them wind up in a drawer after 90 days.
They’ll help your health, productivity and daily habits without you paying much attention to them, as long as you know what they do and how to properly use them.
Everyone focuses on how many screens you walked during the day. That’s cool; however, it’s not about how many steps you take.
The power of today’s BLE wearables is trend tracking.
The latest trends in sleep cycles, resting heart rate, stress levels, recovery rates, and consistency of activity.
When you look at patterns instead of daily statistics you can begin to see how your body behaves when it’s experiencing:
- Late nights
- Eating poor foods
- Excessive exercise
- A stressful work week.
That’s where a fitness device goes from being a toy to being a useful tool.
The last few years have seen an explosion in wearables. Smartwatches, fitness bands, recovery monitors, etc. are all over the place.
Hardcore athletes, busy people, and students trying to build better habits are all strapping on wearable technology to improve their game.
Is it worth the cost of a wearable device?
That depends on your perspective and your primary goal when purchasing the device.
Passive Health Tracking
One of the very best things about newer technology is that they track passively. Wearables do not require you to input every detail of your day manually, as devices passively track your activities:
- Heart rate variability
- Calories burned
- Sleeping time
- Daily movements
- Blood oxygen (with some devices)
Therefore, instead of trying to guess if you’re improving, you have actual numbers that tell you.
Of course, the numbers are only useful if you act on them.
The act of visually tracking progress can motivate you to take the stairs rather than take the elevator or to take a short walk at night to reach your goal.
Is it psychological? Yes.
Does it work? Yes.
Sometimes all we need is a small nudge to get going.
Productivity And Focus
Many wearables now have apps that integrate with your phone, calendar, and task management program. Due to that integration, you will be able to do the following:
- Receive gentle reminders/invitations
- Track your focus sessions
- Limit unessential notifications
- Measure stress levels during meetings
It will keep you from constantly checking your phone and allow you to check your watch instead. It greatly reduces the number of ways you get distracted.
If used correctly, wearable technology can overall help protect your time and attention, which is essentially money now in our speed-driven world.
The Notion That Wearables Are Bad for You
If you place too much importance on your metrics measured with a wearable device, it can create anxiety (e.g. your gorgeously bad sleep score makes you anxious, your low recovery rating makes you want to cancel your workout, and a missed step goal makes you feel guilty).
Wearables are meant to provide information and assist you with your fitness goals, not control your perception of yourself or your ability to perform.
If you are worried about the numbers on your wearables all the time, you are missing the point.
Choosing the Correct Wearable Device
With so many different styles and forms of wearables on the market, there is something for everyone. Some focus on fitness, some on style, and others emphasize health analytics.
When trying to pick your latest piece of tech, you should ask yourself:
- Am I currently committed to participating in physical activity on a regular basis?
- Do I care about sleep tracking?
- Do I want to receive notifications on my wearable device?
- Will I realistically use this device every day?
The value of a wearable comes from your use of it and its compatibility with your everyday life.
Battery Life is More Important Than You Think
The most boring aspect of wearables is the battery life, but it will determine whether you will continue to wear it.
If you are constantly having to charge the device, you will eventually stop wearing it to bed, therefore eliminating your opportunity to track and receive any sleep data from the wearable device and effectively eliminating half the possible insights from the device.
Conveninance = Consistency
Consistency = Results
The Bigger Issue: Know the RMHs’ Habits
The wearable devices you are currently using cannot simply make you better, they will only help you to become more aware of you are currently.
Awareness allows you to make better decisions and have better awareness of yourself. For example:
- On busy days, you may not move much.
- Poor sleep has a huge impact on how you feel.
- Working out can help improve your level of stress.
Over time, awareness can accumulate.
Wearable devices aren’t magical devices, they reflect what you’re doing already.
If you wear them without intention, they’re like an accessory, but if you wear them with intention, they can be used as an accountability partner.
Therefore, when considering purchasing a wearables device, ask yourself if you’re looking for a gadget (i.e. toy) or a device (i.e., helpful).
Because the true value of a wearable is not found on your wrist but instead how you use the information that it provides.
