“Most adults do not meet their recommended daily activity guidelines, and wearable fitness trackers are increasingly cited as having great potential to improve the physical activity levels of adults.” There is the Apple Watch, FitBit, Samsung, Garmin, the list goes on and on. Fitness trackers are a great way to track your activity and keep you motivated. They also have many other features than just tracking your steps. Many of them allow you to track what you eat, how frequently you are exercising, and compare activity levels from one day to the next. You can also adjust and update your goals to coincide with your progress.
Build social support
Fitness trackers are also another way to connect with friends and family. For example, Fitbit allows you to set a variety of challenges that you can invite whomever you wish to keep each other motivated throughout the week. It allows you to develop a healthy competition that benefits both you and whomever you are competing with. In a way, it also holds you accountable to be able to check your phone and monitor your progress for that day/week.
Monitor health
Fitbit also allows you to track number of active minutes, calories burned, how much water you’ve drank, and how well you’ve slept. You can also set your device to send you notifications and reminders to keep moving throughout the day. It’s kind of crazy how much you can monitor what you are doing throughout the day. It can be overwhelming to constantly be updating everything, but you can take it slow and try one thing at a time and see what works best for you. It is supposed to be something that helps improve your life, not another thing to worry about.
Create lifestyle changes
“Furthermore, a 2014 systematic review by French et al concluded that self-regulation techniques such as goal setting, feedback, and social support are effective for younger adults, whereas older adults may benefit more from problem-solving, rewards for successful behavior, and modeling or demonstrating behavior.” Walking and tracking your steps is a free way to include physical activity that doesn’t involve going to a gym. For some, fitness trackers are a way to create positive feelings and thoughts around exercise and fitness. These positive thoughts can help to make more long-term lifestyle changes to improve your overall health. Making small changes such as tracking how many steps you take in a day can lead to big changes over time.
What about long-term benefits?
However, extended research is needed to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of fitness trackers and increased activity in the short term and long term. I have experienced friends, family, and co-workers who say it is a motivating factor when they first get one, but the thrill fades. Personally, I have experienced that same feeling, but then I upgraded my tracker and started using more of the features that it offered and “hitting my step goal” became an everyday goal again. It is different for everyone and using a fitness tracker can be a great addition to your life to help you reach your health and wellness goals.
References
Kathryn Mercer, BA (Hons), MI, Melissa Li, PharmD, Lora Giangregorio, PhD, Catherine Burns, PhD, and Kelly Grindrod, BSc Pharm, MSc, PharmD. Behavior Change Techniques Present in Wearable Activity Trackers: A Critical Analysis. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2016 Apr-Jun; 4(2): e40.
Alycia N. Sullivan and Margie E. Lachman. Behavior Change with Fitness Technology in Sedentary Adults: A Review of the Evidence for Increasing Physical Activity. Front. Public Health, 11 January 2017