Wearables, devices that can measure physical activity are already transforming lives. These amazing gadgets will provide a complete health profile, encourage healthier habits, and push people outside their perceived physical limitations.
A healthier you courtesy of tech
While today’s wearables are glorified pedometers, they do offer interesting insights. These devices gather data like steps walked and transmit that information to a database. Depending on the company that manufactures the device, all sorts of insights are provided. You can find out what time of day you are most active and see your dedicated exercise time plotted in graph form. Some companies make digital scales that can also report your weight details, further increasing your health profile.
As devices become more sophisticated, more data points will be gathered. Companies must find ways to report this data to their customers in ways that create greater health insights.
Perhaps sometime in the near future, you will go to your doctor armed with the information your wearable has gathered. Coming soon, many wearables will be able to monitor heart rates for even greater accuracy of ones health circumstances. One such device that will be capable of such sensitivity is called the Amiigo.
Share your health data with your doctor, and he/she will have an in-depth look at your true physical activity and statistics gathered over time.
Just as algorithms have been developed to represent the data from your wearable in meaningful ways, so can new algorithms be forged to possibly detect early signs of heart issues or other ailments. The possibilities are endless. The result: wearables will provide a more accurate health profile of its wearers.
Get going – your wearable is watching
It’s easier to adopt healthy habits when you have motivation. Ideally, motivation comes internally but sometimes even the most motivated person needs a push. Wearables will encourage you to adopt healthier habits. Books like Eat Move Sleep have documented how sedentary lifestyles are slowly killing people. Wearables that track your activity (or lack thereof) can provide subtle and not so subtle encouragement to get moving.
Using my FitBit, I periodically check up on my accumulated steps. When I haven’t reach a certain goal during the day, I get up and get active. New wearables could vibrate after you have been inactive for an hour or so. Sending this message can motivate less active individuals to be more active. And it can encourage already active people to become more so.
Tech that pushes you beyond your limits
So many of us are content with our usual routines. But for improved fitness and greater health, we have to push ourselves beyond our perceived limits. We need to increase the weight we lift, the miles we run, and the intensity behind our exercise.
My FitBit can calculate how many of my daily minutes are actually active. I set a daily goal of how many active minutes I want to complete. This feature encourages me to push myself beyond my daily limits and challenge my overall fitness.
In addition to common sense safety and listening to our own bodies, wearables will encourage us to change up our fitness routines and make them more difficult.
The exciting future of wearables
By providing a clear picture of our health, motivating us to follow healthy habits, and driving us beyond our own perceived physical limits, wearables are poised to revolutionize the way people get healthy.
With the cost of healthcare so much of a national concern, the more people who use wearables, the better off we all shall be.
