Are Fitness Trackers Really Worth it?

Have you been thinking about buying a fitness tracker but wondering if it will live up to its hype? The answer is YES, and here’s why. Fitness trackers or smartwatches are convenient, easy to use, and can provide many benefits to your health and wellbeing. You don’t have to be a fitness junkie to reap the rewards; keep scrolling to learn how wearing a fitness tracker can have a positive impact on your overall health.

Accountability & Motivation

A fitness tracker will hold you accountable by recording your daily activity level and progress towards goals. Being able to physically see how much or how little activity you’ve had for the day can also be a big motivator for achieving those goals. If you haven’t moved much for the day, it will let you know!

Another great feature is the ability to connect with friends who wear fitness trackers. This allows you to hold each other accountable by being able to see each other’s stats, compete, or simply cheer each other on. 

Set and Track Goals

Fitness trackers allow for a tangible way to set and track health and fitness goals.  With built-in sensors and a pedometer, you’ll be able to track metrics like daily calories, physical activity, step counts, distance traveled, workouts, and water intake. Your tracker will log these on a daily basis and connect to an app where you can go back and see your progress from the start of your fitness or health journey. Whether your goal is weight loss or to improve overall health, these watches will help get you there.

Inside Look at Overall Health

While some features may vary depending on the type of activity tracker you use, this fitness tracker is able to measure heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. Smartwatches make it easy and convenient to get these data points and are typically monitored automatically while wearing. Here’s why tracking these vitals are so important.

Heart Rate Monitor

Most fitness trackers come with a built-in heart rate monitor to help estimate calories burned. This feature can also provide insight into your overall health and help identify health issues. You can track your resting heart rate, average daily heart rate, as well as your average heart rate during exercise. This metric is also used to estimate calories burned.

Blood Pressure Monitor

High blood pressure is a common issue. If you’re working to improve or monitor your blood pressure, a smartwatch can help you gauge where you’re at using a built-in sensor at the wrist. While this feature does not replace or match the accuracy of routine blood pressure checks done by a professional it can provide an estimated reference point.

Learn More About the Importance of Understanding Your Blood Pressure

SpO2

Most wearable devices come with a built-in oxygen saturation sensor that measures your Sp02 levels. This can provide insight into your health during workouts, at rest, or when gaining elevation. This feature has only become more sought after since the COVID pandemic.

Compare Different Watch Features Here

Sleep Tracking

Sleep quality is extremely important to your overall health. Fitness trackers that you can wear while you sleep give insight to how much and the quality sleep you’re getting each night. If you’re looking for a wearable with this feature, both of these fitness trackers have sleep tracking capabilities. Popular watches like the Apple Watch require you to download an additional app for the feature which can be a little confusing and use battery life.

Alerts, Notifications, and Reminders

Fitness trackers are not only convenient for health-related features. These wearables are designed to connect to your iPhone or Android and access apps, alerts, notifications, texts, phone calls, and reminders on your wrist.

Compare the Best Fitness Trackers

Fitness tracking gadgets have become more popular in recent years and overall is a great addition to your health journey. They provide many benefits including convenience, accountability, motivation, and more. There is a wide range of watches available today, the most common being Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung, and Apple, but those aren’t your only option. Take some time and compare similar costs and user-friendly models here to decide which features are most important to you. Don’t wait, take the next step in being proactive with your health. You won’t regret it!