​TODAY’S SPECIAL EDITION MICRO RESOLUTION MEASURE AND MANAGE WITH A TRACKER!

Happy Monday! After focusing so much on sleep and exercise these past few months, you may be considering investing in some type of tracker. You may recall Austrian-American consultant and educator Peter Drucker’s quote: “What gets measured, gets managed.” Today we’re sharing considerations for trackers.


CCP helps you stay on track!  Download this month's tracker!
 
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
[email protected]

Measure & Manage: Considerations for Trackers

How do you know which tracker is best for you? Simply stated, the best device for you is one that is within your budget and has features that are useful to you. We have put together a list of features available for you to consider to help you narrow down your search when you shop.

TRACKER FEATURES TO CONSIDER

 
24/7 Heartrate Tracking—this provides valuable information about your heartrate not only during exercise (i.e., how hard are you working?) but also at rest, which can then be reviewed with your physician. For example, an elevated RHR at rest can indicate dehydration, inadequate sleep, changes in certain medications, too much caffeine intake, and excessive stress.
 
HRV—Some of the newer techie versions even provide Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data, which is a metric with growing interest because it’s a measure of how quickly your body recovers from stress.
 
Sleep Tracking—many devices have the added feature of tracking your sleep. They can measure the information we addressed in our mini resolution to Sleep Better, such as time to fall asleep (sleep latency), time spend in bed vs time spent asleep (sleep efficiency) and can even measure time spent in the different stages of sleep (the architecture of sleep) as a measure of sleep quality. A bonus feature is when you don’t have to tell it you are heading to bed, it just “knows” when you have hit the hay.
 
Steps—daily steps are considered an important metric for evaluating a sedentary lifestyle. We covered this in our mini resolution around exercise. Some trackers have a feature that reminds you to stand up and move around if you have been sedentary for too long. Note that some devices aren’t sensitive enough to weed out activities like knitting or typing from actual steps, so do your due diligence with your research and read the reviews.
 
Calories—a word of caution, if you are trying to lose or gain weight, then do not rely solely on fitness trackers! They can over or underestimate your daily expenditure by as much as 1,000 calories. Trust us, we were crazy enough to try wearing four devices at once for the purpose of comparison. So, again, do your due diligence with your research and read the reviews.
 
GPS—if your activity/activities lead you outdoors, then the GPS feature may be good to have, not just for directionality but also for speed and elevation. Typically, you can download your workout to an app or website to see the 3D map of your activity (pretty cool stuff!). 
 
Time-Recording—something to consider, for example, if you swim, you may wish to record laps or if you run, you may wish to record splits. Or if you do HIIT (high-intensity interval training), you may wish to have an interval counter.
 
Waterproof—this is a good feature if you’re into water sports, plus it’s nice to not have to remember to remove your tracker when it comes time to shower.
 
Battery Life—it’s a bummer when you realize your tracker is out of juice and your data wasn’t captured. Longer battery life usually comes at a higher price, though. Some devices have a neat feature where you don’t have to move your device to a docking station for charging. Instead, the docking station fits over the device so no data is ever missing!
 
Body Placement—in addition to the wristwatch fitness trackers, there are also alternative versions such as bicep bands, clothing clips and rings available on the market. The original fitness trackers were a chest strap connected to a watch (and later versions to an app on your phone). These are still available and provide the most accurate exercise feedback but may not be practical for 24/7 use.
 
Smartwatch—do you want to leave the phone at home and have just one device for fitness, calls, texts, wireless payments and emails? Then a smartwatch may be a good option for you!
 
EKG--devices outfitted with this feature use electrical sensors to detect heart rhythms and are promoted for AFib detection, but they are not intended to replace medical grade equipment.
 
Fall Detection—certain devices exist solely for the purpose of fall detection, and then there are some devices that have an added feature of identifying a fall and sending EMS to your GPS-identified location.
 
VO2 Max--this metric has traditionally been used by elite athletes to measure their fitness and training but has recently become part of the conversation in longevity medicine.
 
AI Coach--want in-the-moment feedback on your workout, sleep or step count, or customized tips for improvement? Many higher-end devices now come with an interactive AI coach. (Coach Michele absolutely loves this feature on her device!)
 
Hydration Monitoring—as of this writing, none of the fitness trackers have a mechanism to monitor physiological hydration levels, but we expect this to change soon! Many do, however, come with alerts to remind you to drink water. Alternatively, there are devices that solely monitor physiological hydration levels. We will discuss these in our future mini resolution to maintain hydration.
 
Cost—more features and longer battery life come at a price. An entry-level tracker can cost about $50, whereas a fancier version can run as high as $800. In some cases, the device is free, but you pay a monthly subscription for access to the software and data. This is an interesting option if you just want to try something out for a while.

We’ll see you next week for a NEW mini resolution!