Wearable Tech and Fitness

They’re a great way to keep track of your fitness metrics. But take it with a grain of salt — they’re still evolving.

The Apple Watch readings you see are still just estimates, not precise measurements.

Good Morning.

Whether or not you can get workouts in during the week, there will always be something there to remind you to stay fit.

The old picture. The fitness influencer. Your annoying neighbor. This newsletter.

Those who need an extra push at a moment’s notice should consider investing in wearable technology. This isn’t a paid article (though I hope at some point I can say it is) shilling for wearable tech, but they have been shown to impact many people’s movement habits positively.

Wearable Tech and Fitness

There have been some promising strides in the innovation of these devices. Apple Watches are getting better at tracking heart rates and detecting emergencies and injuries. Oura Rings are considered the top model for tracking sleep cycles. Garmin watches and Polar chest straps are considered the gold standard for endurance training, complete with apps that assist in developing workouts for you.

Wearable tech isn’t 100% perfect in their readings, though.

Some Apple Watch wearers are skeptical of measurements of calorie burn and heart rate, and rightfully so.

The Apple Watch uses polyplethysmography, or light sensors, to track heart rate. Green LED lights flash constantly on your wrist to get the most accurate heart rate reading.

Because a strong enough pulse can’t be read from the top of your wrist, the Apple Watch uses light and algorithms (based on your chosen workout) to guesstimate your heart rate.

While impressive algorithmic calculations get us close to knowing our effort level, sometimes these readings can be inaccurate and skew toward a higher burned-calories estimate than is actually occurring.

This is not to say that there is a catastrophic miscalculation happening. But a few hundred calories make a significant difference when it comes to progress on weight loss and physique.

Wearables and Privacy

I’m an Apple Watch wearer and my fiancee is an Oura Ring wearer, and we both know by now that these measurements, while imperfect, keep us on the ball with certain health metrics.

We also know that we have to be careful with how much we share with these apps from a health perspective. I upload results from my yearly physicals to my Health app, but not everyone might be comfortable sharing that data with companies.

Whichever wearable you choose, know that some will provide you with disclaimers about how much access these apps will have to your data. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you’re comfortable sharing this with companies.

I know Apple is very protective of health data, and I usually have my Health App delete my results from previous physicals after one year.

If you’re going to use wearables, make sure you’re comfortable with how they fit into your data sharing as well as your body.

Which Wearables Work Best for you?

If you’re sold on the idea of having a mini-coach strapped to your wrist or finger, there are different archetypes of wearable tech you’ll want to know about.