Crush your New Year’s Goals with Wearable Technology

Written by Alexandra Embree

Thumbnail Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

The new year is when many people consider making positive lifestyle changes. The most popular category of New Year’s resolution is related to exercise and fitness and the number of new gym membership registrations peaks in January as motivated individuals flock to fulfill their “New Year, New Me” fantasies. 

Starting and maintaining a fitness routine is hard. Many New Year’s resolutions fail, largely because motivation alone isn’t enough to overhaul lifelong habits. However, some strategies like getting an accountability partner, or using technology to partially fill that role, can help you stay on track to becoming a healthier, happier version of yourself.

University is also a great time to start developing these habits - all full-time students pay for access to campus gym equipment and fitness classes, but only a fraction use them. Getting active can help reduce stress levels, build lifelong habits, and help you get the most out of your tuition dollars.

What is Wearable Technology?

Wearable technology is a category of IoT, or Internet of Things, devices. IoT devices are electronic devices that are connected to a network and have the ability to communicate with other more standard electronic devices, like smartphones or laptops. Some examples of IoT devices could be a smart TV, a thermostat you can control from your phone, or a smart security system.

Wearable technology are pieces of IoT technology that are designed to be integrated with the human body. Smartwatches and fitness trackers are the most popular kind of wearable technology available on the modern market, but the less popular Google Glass of 2013 is another product in this category. Data provided from wearable devices can be a great source of personalized data for data analysis and visualization.

Smartwatch Features

One of the most essential features of a smartwatch or fitness tracker for someone who is new to fitness is the heart rate sensor. Gone are the days of awkwardly holding two fingers to your neck to try to find a pulse - a heart rate tracker can give you real time access to your heart rate during exercise. 

The ability to detect your heart rate during exercise is incredibly helpful. Instead of measuring how hard you are working against those around you, who may have been training for years, you can get a sense of how hard your own body is working under the circumstances. This may help prevent overexertion and burn out. Heart rates can help explain why new runners can only sustain a run for a minute or so - if your body hasn’t been conditioned, running can put your heart rate in an anaerobic zone (80-90% of your maximum heart rate), which can only be sustained for about a minute. The ability to detect the more sustainable aerobic heart rate zone (70-80% of your maximum heart rate) can help you pinpoint the right level of exertion during exercise.

Photo by Lloyd Dirks on Unsplash

Beyond this essential feature, these devices may come equipped with a number of other features to help you track anything regarding health that may be of interest to you. Using the heart rate sensor, some fitness trackers and smartwatches can help you track your REM sleep and deep sleep to help you get a sense of the quality of your nighttime rest. Smartwatches or trackers may also include features for tracking stress, calories consumed and burned, water consumption, blood pressure, or heart rhythm. 

The primary difference between a fitness tracker (like a classic FitBit) and a smartwatch (Apple Watch, Samsung Watches) is the ability to synchronize with your phone. Smartwatches are more likely to include features like music control, text messaging, and mobile payment, while a traditional fitness tracker can be a cost effective way for those on a budget to get access to a heart rate sensor and other fitness related sensors.

Finally, these wearables have a few features that can help in keeping you accountable to your goals. Step counters, which are pretty typical inclusions in most models, can help you put a number to how much you move your body during the day. Reminders are enabled on most models, which can be a great source of accountability to stretch, walk away from the computer for a few minutes, take a deep breath, or hit the gym for leg day.

Not a Necessary Investment

At the end of the day, you don’t need to drop a lot of money on a smartwatch or fitness tracker to get active. All you really need are your own two feet and a pair of shoes (or a yoga mat). Fitness trackers and smartwatches are great fun for those who love technology and want to see all of the data on their progression- but they are by no means a necessary investment. With a little determination and strong habit building, you can crush those New Year’s goals, with or without wearable technology. May you achieve everything you set out to do in 2022!