Do you wear a fitness tracker? What are your favorite features, and if not, what’s made you hesitant?
Fitness trackers are getting smarter and smarter, and with each iteration, it can feel a little trickier to jump on – after all, what’s the difference between a Fitbit Versa 2 and a Fitbit Versa 3, and is an Amazfit GTR 3 Pro better than an Amazfit GTR 3?
The good news is that as the technology has gotten better, and many of its breakthroughs have been democratized to cheaper models, you really can pick some fantastic fitness trackers for less than you may think – be sure to check out our guide to the best fitness trackers for more.
And yet, you may just want to know what the fuss is about. Here are five reasons you should consider grabbing a fitness tracker.
Think of a fitness tracker as a tool that can unlock a lot of potential within your own body that you may not have realized was there.
A big part of that is identifying data that lays dormant, helping you to spot trends that you hadn’t considered before – like how your stress levels change based on the meetings you have on a given day, or how you really could do with an extra hour of sleep each night to feel more ready to attack the day.
These data points will vary based on the tracker you choose, but they can give a whole new perspective to your lifestyle.
Sure, this is the big one – after all, it’s in the name. If you’re already keeping fit, though, how can fitness trackers help?
One big advantage is logging information and building a pathway to improve upon what you’re already doing. That could be something active, like recommending additional reps at the gym to push you to a new personal best, or something more passive, like telling you when it’s best to take a day off from exercise to maximize recovery.
That all links into those data points we mentioned before – if you’re only able to work out for a few hours per week, wouldn’t it be prudent to ensure you were getting the most out of those sessions?
Many fitness trackers will offer a journal or log, too, and it really can be quite enlightening, and inspirational, to see how far you’ve come in any given time window.
Fitness trackers are powerful tools, and they can use that power to make things a little easier in everyday life – even away from fitness.
That means you can pay for your shopping when your phone is at home, or answer calls or respond to text messages when your phone is in your bag or pocket. Sure, none of these are killer features, but you’ll be glad you have them when you need them.
Many fitness trackers can even supercharge your existing workouts, adding a music player that syncs with your Bluetooth earphones to keep the tunes coming without you ever needing to reach for another device.
One of the biggest selling points of fitness trackers is their ability to keep users safe. That can be something as relatively obvious as offering Medical ID information in case of emergency, to allowing a user to make a call with no other device to reach emergency services.
Then there’s fall detection, detecting potential heartbeat irregularities, or determining when an environment is too loud and may damage your hearing. Fitness trackers can do all this and more, and you may end up surprised by how much they can do for your safety.
Almost all modern fitness trackers offer some kind of sleep measurement, and that can be really helpful for managing your active life, and life in general.
While many will easily let you know how many hours you slept, more capable ones will analyse your movements while asleep to determine how much light or heavy sleep you had, as well as your heart rate, and use that data to plot out whether you need to get more or less sleep.
Some fitness trackers, like many modern Fitsense devices, can even help monitor your body temperature while you’re asleep. This can help you pre-empt a potential infection or illness coming.
Do you wear a fitness tracker? What are your favorite features, and if not, what’s made you hesitant?
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