Should You Take Your Fitness Band or Smartwatch Readings Seriously?

Posted on: Apr 4, 2024 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

Should You Take Your Fitness Band or Smartwatch Readings Seriously?

There is no shortage of fitness bands in the market; these days, many Indians opt to keep up with their health. The fitness tracker or health band has embedded sensors that track three main parameters: rotation, movement, altimeter, and orientation. The device collects the data through this mechanism and converts it into the sleep cycle through the hours spent sleeping. The fitness band can easily determine if you are moving around or running, which defines the steps. Also, it calculates the calories burnt or stairs climbed through inbuilt programs. To explain in simple terms, a fitness band offers every solution that one fitness freak or a habit changer is looking for. But when to take any readings seriously and connect to a health agent. Here is a guidebook to explain it all.

What readings does your fitness band give you?

With technological advancements, we can stay healthy. However, you must first know how the backend works to track your fitness better. Here is the list of various features that any fitness band gives its users and how it measures those parameters.

• Calories burned -

To track the calories consumed and burned, the fitness band considers the basal metabolic rate, the activity level, and the manual inputs you give. Personal information regarding yourself must be maintained to calculate the number of calories burned. Once this is done, the sensor accelerometer tracks your activity and will be the first input for calculating burned calories. The other input is the information about your food consumed and the calories you intake. Depending on the device's choice, the readings are calculated and populated. The heart rate, how much you sweat, and respiratory rate can greatly help for more accurate measurements.

• Heart Rate -

A small LED light blinks green on the underside of your fitness tracker, and the heart rate is calculated through PPG or photoplethysmography. To explain in simple terms, the blood absorbs green light, so the heart rate is counted each time the absorption happens.

• Step Count -

You must have heard many fitness freaks going wild discussing their step count, which helps you understand how active you are throughout the day. The innovative device accelerometer tracks mobile activities and defines movement. However, the step count readings might need to be corrected sometimes as the accelerometer inaccurately captures the slower movements.

• Sleep Hours -

Another interesting feature that health trackers or fitness bands claim is their ability to track various sleep states. Tracking sleep hours is ok, but various sleep states must be more accurate as they deal more with brainwaves and other measurable factors.

When should you take these readings seriously?

There is a flip side to the fitness band readings. The rumination of numbers and infographics might need to be clarified, as they are not actual measures or relevant. You sometimes stress yourself on the metrics your fitness band shows and have conclusions based on unhelpful assumptions. To better explain this, you are stressed at work and have missed several workout sessions. Your health tracker will indicate that you should hit the gym instead; the body needs gentler exercise like yoga or deep meditation. If you try to fixate on continuous notifications and not listen to your body, your fitness band has a downside. For many fitness individuals, the fitness band can be quite discouraging because they feel like failures if they cannot complete unrealistic challenges and do not consider their intuition and body signals. Buy individual health insurance to be safer, not to rethink getting any diagnosis or pre-checks rather than waiting for savings to spend on medical expenses. Always consult for a doctor's opinion if you find any abnormality in the fitness band readings.

When should you look for expert opinion?

Accuracy refers to how close the measurement is to the defined standard value. Measurements are not straightforward, but can be either right or wrong. There are two factors one must consider when it comes to calculating the accuracy of the fitness band or health tracker:

• The fitness band model that you choose -

Inbuilt algorithms and the calculations completely depend on which fitness band model you choose.

• How you provide your data -

The input to the algorithms is how accurately you deliver the data. The more accurate the data you provide, the more precise the measurements will be.

So, knowing the acceptable accuracy levels one can look for to achieve their daily goals is essential. Research says tracking your daily activities can give you infographics of areas to improve. But if you spot some numbers alarming in terms of heart rate, then there is a chance that complex diseases are knocking. Considering the increasing medical rates, experts suggest a health insurance policy can safeguard your expenses. If you are concerned, visit any physician and get the right diagnosis rather than simply relying on the fitness band readings alone.

Conclusions:

With a better understanding and exploration of the fitness tracker's enormous capabilities, you can choose the best fitness tracker in the market to upgrade your lifestyle or achieve any health goals you decide. You are now also aware of the backend mechanism of these trackers and how they give you readings on the daily chores. The article also explains when to identify the alarming readings and seek medical advice.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purposes only. For more details, please refer to the policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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