Health and fitness technology
Technology is a blessing and a curse — most of you would likely agree with this idea. From a health and fitness perspective, technology can be a blessing giving you tools and motivation to track your progress to a healthier life. Technology can also be a curse, delivering limited accuracy in the metrics it provides, distracting you from quality life moments with loved ones, and it becomes an intrusive crutch distracting you from day-to-day tasks.
The upside to most wearable technology — which tracks your calories, movement and general fitness progress — is its ability to help you shift your behavior toward a healthier lifestyle. The glaring downside to these apps and tech that most of us have run into is these apps and devices are not 100 percent accurate. For example, counting steps can be off between 2 and 10 percent depending on the app or device and other factors.
If wearable technology is not accurate and distracting, why should we even go to the expense and effort to use them? This question has crossed my mind many times over the last few years and for some of us, it does not make sense to buy into the high profile trend of cool fitness technology. But before we toss our tricked-out new fitness watch or wearable wristband, or delete our smart phone health apps, let’s look at shifting our perspective.
If we approach these apps and devices as a simple, nice to have, but not really required means to achieve good health, then great. Years ago, we were faced with similar self-help items such as desktop calendars, rolodexes and fancy day-timers. Many of us either found them to be somewhat helpful or just in the way and never used. The point to most of these old school activity trackers was to remind you of events, schedules and action items that needed your attention. Often meetings were missed, actions were not done and many of these items became doodle pads. There is a connection between old school organizer apps and wearable technology in that they are used to get our attention, keep us aware and somewhat informed.
I think the value proposition for using new improved technology apps and wearable devices is purely for health awareness and to give you basic understanding of your progress. The old adage “What gets measured gets done” may apply in context to health apps and fitness trackers. Anything that keeps you engaged, curious and monitoring your health stats can give you healthy measures to live by.
The importance when using technology for your health and fitness is to find balance and momentum moving you forward. Like most things take an “all things in moderation” approach and do not become overly dependent or addicted to your health and fitness technology. You will not always remember to log or track on some days and if your batteries have died in your tracker, stick to the run or workout you had planned. I have seen a number of folks forgo a workout because their tracker needs charged. Now that’s ridiculous!
Keep in mind your app or wearable tech may not be 100 percent accurate, but it will keep you in the ballpark as to progress and effort. Don’t let the technology drive your health and fitness, just use it as a loose guide. Changing your health and fitness will be a series of small snap shots from many aspects such as inches around your waist, weight changes, increased energy and yes, perhaps data from an app or device which can tell you you’re keeping pace with daily efforts to stay healthy.
If you have a smart phone, which most of you do, here are what I consider a few very helpful apps to give you guidance:
• Stop, Breathe & Think — We all need a little mindfulness, so this app can be very useful. What a great way to start the basics of meditation and it gives you a pretty broad range of exercises that can quickly get you up to speed on mediation practices. This app is great for its ability to give options that can fit any busy schedule and location to get a little mindfulness done on the fly.
• ShopWell — Good nutrition is 80 percent of your health footprint. This app is very useful for guidance with nutritional assistance. The primary focus of the app is to help you personalize your nutrition plan that fits you. It starts with entering your height, weight, age and food allergies, then it scores the food you are interested in eating. Once scored, the app will advise you on how healthy it is for your particular makeup. What I really like about this app is how flexible it is in helping you find healthier alternatives.
• MapMyFITNESS — This set of apps has been around for a long time. It may not be the fanciest or the most complex app out there, but it is tried and true. I have used almost every one of these at some point and it never disappoints. There are six apps in this family which include an all in one mapmyfitness app which covers individual run, walk, ride, hike and for all you dog owners and lovers, it has a mapmydogwalk app. So even if you’re not an athlete tracking your high mileage, use it to stretch your dog walking. It’s fun and informative!
• Sworkit — I really like this app for its diversity. This app covers so many aspects from yoga, stretching, strength and even cardio. The app gives you many options to manage a great fitness regimen on a tight schedule. If you want an app that can help keep you on pace with goals and milestones, this app is very informative.
Technology can be a helpful tool, but it’s all you who will make the difference to shift your health and fitness into a consistent lifelong effort.
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Judd Jones is a director for The Hagadone Corporation in Coeur d’Alene.