Fitbits, Apple Watches and Other Fitness Trackers Really Do Make You Healthier

livemint.com:

It’s time to dust off that fitness band or smartwatch and start tracking your activity again. Clocking your steps and other fitness metrics really does result in more physical activity, recent studies show. And when families track their activity, it gets them out walking together and encourages them to set collective goals.

The shame is, this research landed only after fitness trackers and smartwatches began to fall out of fashion. Fitness band sales have been in decline for the past five years, despite a brief resurgence early in the pandemic, according to market research firm Circana. Many people replaced their fitness bands with smartwatches, but even shipments of those fell 9% in North America in the last quarter, says Counterpoint Research.

I stopped wearing my Fitbit a long time ago. I forgot to keep it charged and now I don’t even know where the charger is. The old model was limited in the metrics it displayed.

I could learn a lot more about my hikes—the equivalent flights of stairs I’d climbed and the steadiness of my gait on rocky terrain—by holding my iPhone. For others, perhaps they became bored with completing abstract goals or dismayed by the myth of 10,000 steps. “One day you forget to put it back on your wrist after charging it and you lose your winning streak," says Eddie Hold, president of connected intelligence at Circana.

But we all need to put them back on this fall as work demands accelerate and school is back in session. This time of year, it’s easy to lose track of our exercise and wellness routines. Step it up There’s been widespread skepticism in the scientific and medical community about whether fitness trackers can improve health, said researchers from the University of South Australia.