The fitness tracker has exploded in popularity in recent years. These wearable devices assist you in living a more active and healthy lifestyle by effortlessly tracking your fitness level. Whether you’re increasing your physical activity or practicing for a sport, tracking your fitness with a fitness tracker will be easier than ever.
In the near future, these little electronic gadgets will grow with fascinating new features and capabilities. In the meanwhile, you should be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of fitness trackers.
Are these devices truly beneficial? Are fitness trackers effective?Let’s determine whether a fitness tracker is worthwhile.
What is a Fitness Tracker, exactly?
A fitness tracker is a high-tech gadget that uses integrated sensors to monitor your activities and actions.It will gather data and translate it to relevant measures, such as overall activity, step count, calories burnt, and sleep quality.To keep track of how many steps you’ve climbed, a special sensor called an “altimeter” detects your altitude. The more sensors your device contains, the more precise it will be.This wristband monitors your daily steps, heart rate, sleeping habits, and even food intake – all as you go about your routine.
What is the Function of a Fitness Tracker?Before we discuss its advantages and disadvantages, let’s look at how a fitness tracker works.
How precise is a fitness tracker’s data conversion? To be sure, there are smartphone applications that enable you to monitor and analyze measured parameters.
Additionally, these applications enable you to create exercise goals and measure your progress.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using a Fitness Tracker
The Fitness Tracker’s Top 7 Benefits
- Ascertain accountability
This has to be the primary reason why fitness trackers are beneficial, particularly for people who want a little extra motivation to get out there and work out.Almost all fitness trackers interface with third-party applications, which enable you to share your training sessions or challenge a buddy to stay accountable for your fitness regimen.According to research, adding a social component to exercises encourages you to exercise frequently and without becoming sedentary!
- Daily motivation is critical.
Another significant advantage of a fitness tracker is that it displays your progress visually. You may view the number of steps you’ve walked, the number of calories you’ve burnt, and so on.It is suggested that you do at least 10,000 steps a day to be active. Additionally, many fitness trackers display the time of day during which you are the most active. Certain trackers will even remind you to go for a walk or exercise if you haven’t been active in a while.All of these figures on their own are highly motivating for many! They assist you in rising and getting started.
- Abandon junk food and embrace a healthy diet
Being active is not the sole requirement for happiness and health. A nutritious diet is just as critical as an active lifestyle.
A tracker will enable you to keep track of your food and drink intake. You may enter your daily water consumption and meal selections and then calculate the quality of your diet plan to help you make better daily decisions.
- Establish your fitness objectives
There is a significant difference between want to be healthy and actively pursuing a healthy lifestyle plan.Nothing is more motivating than setting personal fitness goals and working toward them daily. Whether you’re on a weight-loss program or training for a marathon, fitness trackers assist you in setting and achieving objectives.Setting goals helps you stay focused and pushes you to work even harder to reach them.
- Maintain a sleep diary
According to a study, the quality of your sleep has a significant impact on your metabolism, mood, cravings, and energy levels.
Nowadays, numerous fitness trackers can monitor sleep patterns and provide information on how deep or light your sleep was, how long you slept, and how frequently you woke up.This information will assist you in making more informed decisions before bedtime and gradually improve your sleeping patterns.
- Maintain Contact
Wearing a fitness tracker, such as the Fitbit Charge 3 or Charge 2, may also alert you to incoming calls, text messages, or emails without requiring you to check your smartphone.How?Numerous fitness trackers available now have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections, allowing you to sync the gadget with your smartphone.
- Heart Rate Monitor
A fitness tracker can measure your heart rate without requiring a chest strap by monitoring your pulse.Integrated sensors direct light toward blood arteries in your wrist, measuring variations in blood volume caused by the heart’s pumping action.The amount of light reflected is used to detect changes in the blood volume.A low level of light indicates that you pumped a large volume of blood, and vice versa! Thus, the user learns the appropriate intensity for activity and when not to overdo it.
Disadvantages of a Fitness TrackerThe benefits of fitness trackers much exceed the drawbacks. To be clear, there are very few drawbacks to wearing a fitness tracker.
Several of them include the following:
- They are costly.
The best fitness trackers may be costly, particularly if you are not getting the most out of them. You cannot get an expensive fitness tracker and utilize it on a sporadic basis.Nowadays, buying a high-tech fitness tracker feels more like a luxury than a need.
- Battery life might be deceiving.
Another gadget that you must charge daily!The battery life of fitness trackers can be crucial, as most of them have a short lifespan. Additionally, charging these gadgets regularly might be rather inconvenient.
If you don’t charge it, it won’t be long until the battery runs out while you’re exercising.
- Accuracy might be a concern.
Certain fitness trackers, particularly inexpensive ones, might not give 100 percent correct stats — such as steps taken. These gadgets are unable to accurately calculate the steps you walk and must make an educated guess.This is why you cannot completely rely on these gadgets if your primary objective is to count steps. The same is true for the calorie-counting component.