What is wearable technology?
Depending on your definition of wearable technology, you can trace its origins back several hundred years to the first eyeglasses and clocks. Wearable tech has become increasingly popular and more advanced over recent years and is showing no signs of losing popularity. You can now find wearable technology in the form of, smart watches, fitness and health data trackers, virtual reality goggles, and high definition cameras. Certain wearable technology has even been integrated into clothing. The health and fitness industry has been and will continue to be a major contributor to wearable health technology. Depending on your goals and preferences, you can find wearable tech at a variety of different prices and uses. Common areas wearable tech can be worn are around the wrist, arms, chest, eyes, waist, or feet. They usually come in the form of a watch or module that can be strapped or clipped onto a part of your body. Most are small and can be designed to fit various sport and fashion preferences.
What are the benefits of using wearable technology?
There are numerous benefits of using wearable tech. Basic step trackers called pedometers can tell you how many steps you haven taken throughout the day. Heart rate monitors will pick up your heart rate and send your heart rate info to a monitor so you can view your heart rate in real time during an activity. GPS trackers can provide you with the distance traveled and show you the route you completed. If you have an interest in capturing your activities in video or images, wearable cameras can be used. Motion sensors can also monitor your sleep quality to see how deep or restful your sleep is. Speed and cadence sensors can be used to measure the performance of your workouts on fitness equipment. Virtual reality goggles can be used to provide users with a unique workout, therapy, or entertainment experience. Wearable technology has also been built into clothing to provide users with personal muscular activation information.
Does wearable technology help you reach your goals?
The quality and accuracy of current wearable tech can be a valuable tool in helping you reach your health and fitness goals. It’s important to know that wearable technology alone won’t help you reach your goals. It needs to be used along with a specific exercise or wellness program to help users better track and monitor their program effectiveness. For example, if you purchase a smart watch with a heart rate monitor function and GPS capabilities with the goal of working out at a specific heart rate for a specific distance, but you never commit to performing those workouts, then the smart watch won’t help you. What the smart watch can do is tell you if you are reaching your workout goals. If you look down at your heart rate monitor and see that you are not working out at the right intensity, you can be motivated to work harder. The same goes for workout length. Looking at the total distance traveled from the GPS reading on the smart watch will help you determine when you have gone the appropriate distance for your training program. Pedometers are great for recording the steps taken throughout the day, but just wearing a pedometer won’t make you take more steps. It could however motivate you to take more steps if you see that you are getting close to your step goals for the day.
What kind of wearable technology should I get?
The type of wearable technology you should get depends on your health and fitness goals. Wearable health technology is great for helping keep users accountable to their health and fitness goals. If you have a goal to walk 10,000 steps per day, a pedometer can easily tell you how your doing. If your goal is to perform HIIT workouts at 90% of your maximum heart rate, a heart rate monitor equipped watch will tell you exactly where your heart rate level is and whether you need to increase or decrease your workout intensity. When training for distance activities like a marathon, it is critical to know how far you have gone during training runs. GPS enabled devices can give you exact distance traveled to help you determine if your training runs are the appropriate distance.
If you are looking for some quality wearable technology to help you along your health and fitness journey, check out our Sunny Health and Fitness selection of wearable tech.