4 Unsuspecting Ways Your Fitness Tracker is Hurting Your Results
Are you more focused on the tracker or your workouts?
Most of humanity wears some sort of fitness tracking device. It’s not just a digital watch anymore. Telling time is just one minor feature. “Smartwatches” and fitness wearables can do so much more.
You’re probably wearing a FitBit, a Garmin, an Apple watch, a BodTrack, or even a Kore. I wear a FitBit Versa2 and sync it with my phone… but I’m not religious about it anymore.
According to Consumer Reports, the top five fitness wearables include Kore2.0, FitBit, Apple, Garmin, and Fossil.
And then there’s the newest Oura ring. The Oura ring tracks much of the same data as a smartwatch but can’t keep time. Some people wear both an Oura and a smartwatch. Kind of overkill, wouldn’t you say?
Typically, these wearable tracking devices are not cheap. Base models can range from around $200+ (not including any sales or promotions). People will pay whatever ridiculous price to have the capability to track everything they do. The Oura ring starts at $299.
Having data about your fitness progress is great. But at what point did it turn into a full-blown obsession? At what point does it become an overkill to your fitness routine?
Spoiler alert: fitness wearables aren’t all that. They’re just a tool in the proverbial fitness toolbox.
You honestly don’t need a fitness tracker to tell you how you’re progressing or performing. You don’t need to religiously track your heart rate, steps, sleep, mood, body temperature, or breathing.
In fact, fitness wearables can cause more mental harm than good. And then there’s the people who have them, just to blend in with everyone else.
Should we go back to the basics?
And by basics, I mean wearing an analog watch (the one with the hands), monitoring heart rate by palpating the radial or carotid pulse and counting the beats, and knowing you slept well by how you feel the next day… that level of basics.
This article will discuss four ways in which fitness tracking devices are actually doing more harm than good.
1. Trackers as distractors
Humanity is distracted today. And not only distracted but overstimulated.
We live in a world clamoring for our attention at every nanosecond. Between social media and news outlets alone, people are constantly looking down at their phones and not what’s ahead of them.
The mental impact of continual device notifications is being studied more and more closely, and the results are astounding. People are becoming more anxiety-driven and depressed today than ever before. Dopamine and cortisol levels are through the roof. We all want to feel good (dopamine), but we’re all so stressed (cortisol). All of these combined effects are taking a massive toll on the mind and body.
It would be one thing to say that wearable devices just record our biometric information, like heart rate and steps. But they’re now beyond just a data recording device.
Think of all the other “features” and capabilities your wearable has. Most likely, your fitness tracker does some of the following:
- You can see an incoming phone call
- Receive and read a text message (or email)
- Act as a wake-up alarm
- Look at the weather
- Listen to music
- View a Starbucks menu (yes, for real, this is an option)
On some devices, you could even record voice memos and set other daily reminders.
Where does it end?
What are you more focused on… your workout or potentially missing a phone call?
The one very nice option I have set up on my FitBit is that I receive no notifications while I work out (but that’s only if I actually remember to activate workout mode). And usually, I will go so far as to not have my phone anywhere near me while I’m working out.
As you can see, there’s a plethora of opportunities for distractions. And it’s all quietly and conveniently sitting on your wrist.
2. Trackers have a wide range of variability
“You should be working toward feeling better, not just improving your numbers.” — Brian Mackenzie, author Unplugged
The wearables industry doesn’t take some factors into consideration, such as your fitness level. Are you a newbie, advanced, or elite athlete?
The overall picture is that fitness tracker accuracy is highly variable, depending on the technology used and what the tracker tries to measure. And because there are so many different devices on the market, each one is slightly different in how they run their algorithms, which in turn, impacts how data is captured.
David Nield, a long-time fitness wearable and technology expert, states:
“it’s difficult to get two fitness trackers to agree on how much activity you’ve got through in a day or what your heart rate actually is. That’s because the sensors inside each device aren’t perfect at measuring what you’re doing — they all use slightly different algorithms to translate the raw data into actual statistics.”
The authors of the book Unplugged support this view by saying:
“fitness trackers of different brands vary with regard to the measurement of indicators and are all affected by the activity state, which indicates that manufacturers of fitness trackers need to improve their algorithms for different activity states.”
While fitness wearables and smartwatches have come a long way, there’s always room for improvement.
So how do we get all the data that shows up on our wearable?
Here’s how: The back of the tracker contains LEDs (light-emitting diodes) that send light waves into your skin. A small element within the device, known as a photodetector, captures the light that bounces off the wearer’s wrist, which is then turned into information.
Brilliant!
Now how do I know if my tracker is accurate, especially during a workout?
You can spot-check it every now and again. Don’t take it for gospel! For example, if you don’t already know how to, learn how to check your pulse rate. You do this by feeling your carotid artery (side of the neck) or radial artery (at your wrist, beneath your thumb). Count the pulses you feel for 15 seconds and multiply that by 4. You’ve now just calculated your own beats per minute (BPM).
Take the BPM you just counted and see what your device shows. Are they even close?
Learn to listen to your body. It tells you everything you need to know.
3. Trackers cause more stress and anxiety over not meeting goals
You have your daily walking goal set at 10,000 steps. We’ve all probably read the 10,000-step rule and strive to meet it (even though that myth has been debunked as well).
For some people, that’s easy to meet. For others, it’s more challenging to get that many steps in. So what happens when you don’t meet it? Try again tomorrow, right?
What happens when you don’t meet that goal for a few days? What are you doing to yourself mentally?
“The mind has a naughty way of tricking us out of anything that it perceives requires effort” — Brian Mackenzie, author Unplugged
By seeing that you’re not meeting a biometric goal, you’re creating an anxiety monster.
The stories we tell ourselves might sound like this: “I suck. I didn’t get my 10,000 steps in today therefore, I’m not healthy. This is too hard. I’m never going to be healthy and fit. Should I even bother with this? ”
You might laugh at my simple example, but some people truly think like this! It’s a shame because 10,000 steps don’t provide an overall or even accurate picture of health. It only shows someone can walk 10,000 steps.
And a lot of times, people will quit their fitness journey before they even begin because they're so fixated on the numbers displayed on their wearable.
Or perhaps you didn’t burn as many calories as you wanted.
Or maybe you didn’t get your heart rate up enough as you wanted during your running session.
Or maybe you didn’t meet your seven-hour sleep goal. And now you convince yourself that you’re not rested enough. I’ve experienced this myself.
My Fitbit told me I only got six hours and twenty minutes of sleep. I went to bed at 9:30pm and work up at 5:30am. That’s eight hours.
It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep, and I admit I sleep well. So why did the device tell me I fell short of my seven-hour goal when in fact, I was in bed for eight hours?
This is where the numbers start messing with the head.
“Wow, I didn’t sleep well again for the fifth night in a row.”
But in reality, I did sleep well. I woke up with energy, and I felt well-rested. I felt like I was ready for the day ahead of me. But my Fitbit told me otherwise.
“Health should always be your primary goal and you shouldn’t let looks or technology-driven performance targets become the be-all and end-all.” — Brian Mackenzie, author Unplugged
Now that you have yourself good and stressed over not meeting the demands of your device, maybe you should activate the 2-minute breathing feature and do some deep breathing to calm yourself down.
Or, maybe you could remove your fitness wearable for a day or two and give yourself a mental break from tracking.
Go rogue, go analog!
4. Trackers make you focus on the numbers, not on your well-being
“You just have to start listening to yourself again and stop waiting for a piece of technology to tell you that it knows best.” — Brian Mackenzie, author Unplugged
Fitness wearables and tracking devices are part of this crazy culture. Everybody wants real-time data. And we’re being brainwashed into thinking that we need real-time data.
We don’t need a steady stream of real-time data.
Instead, we need to understand how we feel and what we’re feeling. And we don’t need a wearable device and app to tell us that information.
Again, fitness trackers are nice, but they’re just a tool for the fitness toolbox.
Your body tells you everything you need to know. This includes anything from hunger to sleep to sex, to needing some cleansing deep breathing and everything in between.
You don’t need to “fill the circle” for two minutes of deep breathing to feel relaxed. This is distracting for the deep breathing technique itself because you begin to watch the device monitor your deep breathing instead of just closing your eyes and performing some cleansing deep breaths.
If you’re at the gym and notice that you forgot to activate your device to track your workout, do you shrug your shoulders and just keep going (and log it in the app later)? Or do you get upset because your workout is no longer “accurate” and your time and numbers are now ruined?
If you’re more focused on your fitness tracker (or other distractions), this will show in your results and how you feel after your workout.
What about the privacy and ethics of your health data?
Here’s a little blurb to ponder as you wear a fitness device.
The fitness wearables industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and is only getting bigger.
But what happens to all the data collected that literally sits on your arm and ultimately gets to your phone?
If you wear a device that logs all kinds of biometric information, you don’t think when you sync your data to your phone, and it gets uploaded to an online company dashboard (such as FitBit, Garmin, or Apple), that the company doesn’t see, interpret, and use that data?
The reality is that the data from your fitness wearable device is influencing and helping to design the next wave of devices. Your health data is most likely being used to influence future consumer behavior in the wearables industry.
Let that sink in for a moment.
“The wearables revolution also presents ethical issues regarding the privacy, security, and availability of performance and health-related data.” — David Nield
What, you didn’t think you were the sole owner and proprietor of your own health data, did you? Big brother is watching and tracking.
Key Takeaways
- Fitness wearables are more than just trackers. They are multi-functional devices that provide a continual stream of notifications.
- The top five fitness wearables on the market include Kore2.0, FitBit, Apple, Garmin, and Fossil.
- The four ways in which fitness tracking devices are actually doing more harm than good include:
- Fitness trackers are distractors
- Trackers have a wide range of variability
- Trackers cause more stress and anxiety over not meeting goals
- Fitness trackers cause you to focus more on the numbers and not your overall well-being
- You don’t need a fitness tracker to tell you how you’re progressing or performing. Listen to your body, which is far more accurate.
- If you’re more focused on your fitness wearable device and the numbers on the screen rather than the workout itself, this will affect the results of your goals.
Book recommendation: One of the best books ever written about this fitness-crazed tracking phenomenon is called “Unplugged: evolve from technology to upgrade our fitness, performance & consciousness.” The authors are Brian Mackenzie, Dr. Andy Galpin and Phil White. It’s primarily written by athlete and coach/trainer Brian Mackenzie, with contributions from Dr. Andy Galpin and Phil White. I’ve read and studied it cover to cover. It’s an eye-opening book on fitness wearables and our perceptions of health and fitness.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this article and gained some new insight.
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