Have you heard of the 'Fitbit'? It is a watch-strap like wearable device which keeps track of many of our body parameters, like heart rate, blood pressure, etc., including the steps we take during a day, converting them into miles/kilometers. Both of my daughters bought it as soon as it was launched some time ago.
However, I am not a big fan of such devices, as I feel there is no need to monitor such parameters every day or after every activity. See, our body responds to daily activities in many different ways, hence these parameters keep fluctuating over the day. But equally true is that our body is constantly trying to balance these all the time. And the good thing is that we can 'sense' these changes easily as these are expressed quite well as bodily reactions like fever, tiredness, allergies, muscle soreness, cough, etc., or/and emotional responses like feelings of sadness, despair, anxiety, elation, etc.
Many users of these activity-trackers have also harboured suspicions over their accuracy. One research study recently found that the pulse-monitoring technology used in its wrist-bound Surge and Charge devices like Fitbit was "highly inaccurate during elevated physical activity". Researchers from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, had 43 subjects wear the devices as they ran, jogged and jumped rope, among other activities, and then compared the readings with those of an electrocardiogram. During moderate to high-intensity exercise, Fitbit's sensor was off by an average of about 19 beats a minute.
In another study on Jawbone and Fitbit devices, it was found that both devices overcounted and undercounted as the activities intensified.
Both these studies were not peer-reviewed, neither repeated; so no concrete conclusion can be drawn from these. However, it indicates that it is difficult to believe the accuracy of these devices. Then what's the point of wearing such devices??
If you are checking your vital parameters very frequently through the day, and notice changes, which are bound to be, you are heading towards a downward spiral of obsession for 'perfect readings' which never happen for anyone! Our bodies are unique, and always in flux, responding to different environments, both external and internal; hence the concept of having a record of these vital statistics itself is stress-inducing. I will rather believe my intuition, sense my physical reactions and emotional state, and if there is something unexplained, then will measure these with proper instruments!
However, I am not a big fan of such devices, as I feel there is no need to monitor such parameters every day or after every activity. See, our body responds to daily activities in many different ways, hence these parameters keep fluctuating over the day. But equally true is that our body is constantly trying to balance these all the time. And the good thing is that we can 'sense' these changes easily as these are expressed quite well as bodily reactions like fever, tiredness, allergies, muscle soreness, cough, etc., or/and emotional responses like feelings of sadness, despair, anxiety, elation, etc.
Many users of these activity-trackers have also harboured suspicions over their accuracy. One research study recently found that the pulse-monitoring technology used in its wrist-bound Surge and Charge devices like Fitbit was "highly inaccurate during elevated physical activity". Researchers from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, had 43 subjects wear the devices as they ran, jogged and jumped rope, among other activities, and then compared the readings with those of an electrocardiogram. During moderate to high-intensity exercise, Fitbit's sensor was off by an average of about 19 beats a minute.
In another study on Jawbone and Fitbit devices, it was found that both devices overcounted and undercounted as the activities intensified.
Both these studies were not peer-reviewed, neither repeated; so no concrete conclusion can be drawn from these. However, it indicates that it is difficult to believe the accuracy of these devices. Then what's the point of wearing such devices??
If you are checking your vital parameters very frequently through the day, and notice changes, which are bound to be, you are heading towards a downward spiral of obsession for 'perfect readings' which never happen for anyone! Our bodies are unique, and always in flux, responding to different environments, both external and internal; hence the concept of having a record of these vital statistics itself is stress-inducing. I will rather believe my intuition, sense my physical reactions and emotional state, and if there is something unexplained, then will measure these with proper instruments!
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