Fitness trackers are wrist-worn devices that track your daily activities. From how many steps you have made to burned calories in a day, it records all. They are a great way to motivate and help you lose weight and to monitor your physical activity and body function.
It helps you with day to day activities and with coordinating your workout routine and daily calorie intake. It is like a mini personal trainer on your wrist. We all wonder how these little fitness devices work. Well, here we are going to look at some interesting features of a fitness tracker.
How do Fitness Trackers Work
1. It counts your steps
This is a common characteristic of a fitness tracker, but it is interesting to know how it works. First of all, it has a built-in GPS so it can track distance if you are running outside. How does it know when you are walking up or down flights of stairs?
A wearable tracker continuously senses the movements of the body thanks to an accelerometer in your device. With the personal information about your physical activity throughout your day, it can process the given information through an algorithm and can detect different types of movement. It categorizes the movements into different activities and then generates more information based on these details.
This will help you make a better workout plan and help you:
-improve the quality of your workout
-improve your activity plan
-improve your weight-loss plan
2. How many calories you have burned
Similar to the previously mentioned function, this also uses an accelerometer, which detects different movement. Besides that, when you opt in your age, gender, height and weight, it will calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate).
These two combined will give you the number of calories burned throughout the day. Because of the different movement and input of different workout, it will help you make a meal plan and help you lose weight.
It resets at midnight, and when you wake up, you will see that you have already burned calories. This is because you burn calories even when you sleep. The amount of calories is measured by your BMR and an algorithm that gives a total of the calorie burned in a day so far, also known as energy expenditure.
3. Sleep
Fitness trackers have a “sleep mode”, which will help you check your sleep quality.
Gadgets that monitor your sleep activity are known as actigraphy. This records all your movement during the sleep, and there are specialized algorithms programmed to make sense of the movements recorded by the tracker based on the sleep parameters.
In other words, if you do not turn on sleep mode, it will record your movements as if you were awake. It differentiates REM and non-REM (light sleep) by using your heart rate. When you are in the non-REM phase of sleep, your heart rate is slower than in REM.
4. It measures your heart rate
The method used for measuring heart rate is called photoplethysmography or PPG. You know when in series that takes place in a hospital, you see a patient, and all around him those heart rate monitors and a clip on his finger? Well, that clip is PPG.
Blood is red because it reflects red light and absorbs green. Fitness band tracks your heart rate by using this “colour method”.
Basically, when your heart beats faster, there is more blood flowing. With more blood flow, the more green light is absorbed.
5. Monitors your stress level
When we were already talking about heart rate, fitness tracker monitors your heart rate when you rest and how much time your body takes to recover when you work out.
By using this information, your device can see your stress level.
If we are under emotional or physical tension, our body releases hormones called adrenalin and cortisol. They increase our heart rate and tighten our mussels. This is shown on our wearables and alerts us when our bodies are under stress. It shows us how much we are stressed and gives us indicators on which part of our everyday lives we should adjust. Today more and more people suffer from anxiety. Because fitness trackers also track breath rate, they can help you calm down with recommended breath exercises.
Conclusion
In the end, fitness trackers are compatible for everyone no matter if you are a fitness fanatic or an average person who wants to get in good shape.
These mini personal trainers on your wrist can help and motivate you to achieve your goals. Trackers can help start your journey to a healthier life.
They show how your body handles the workout, which can help you improve your day to day physical activity. By monitoring your body functions, coordinating your sleep will be easier, and organizing your daily meal plan impeccable. With a fitness tracker, you will get to know your body much easier.
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