24 Mar Best Friend Handbook: Do Fitness Trackers Improve Health?
My friend Katherine Stuart writes a wonderful blog,”Best Friend Handbook,” everything from fashion and beauty tips to nutrition and recipes – including recipes for success. In one of her latest blogs, Katherine evaluates FitBits. Do trackers help improve health?
Katherine Stuart
I sometimes wonder: Do fitness trackers improve health, really? As someone who is goal-oriented, I admit that I am completely addicted to my Fitbit. I strive for 10,000 steps a day minimum, and have been known, on occasion, to pace my apartment in my pajamas just to see that little dashboard flip from blue to green when I hit my goal.
The Fitbit has definitely made me more conscious of the ways that I can fit in steps outside of my daily exercise. I now park the car far away from my destination on purpose, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and pace while I write. Actually, I’ve always done that. Now, I just do it more. But do all of these extra steps actually mean that fitness trackers improve health? A group of doctors here in LA weighed in on exactly this topic. Here is a rundown of what they had to say:
More Steps = Healthier Heart
Dr. Raj Khandwalla, a cardiologist at Cedars Sinai Heart Institute, not only believes that fitness trackers improve health, but that being able to quantify your activity with a fitness tracker will one day be able to prevent heart disease. Although more clinical trials still need to be done in order to determine whether it’s really 10,000 steps a day that will keep the heart doctor at bay, Dr. Khandwalla believes that your average daily step count will soon be as important a vital sign as your pulse, blood pressure, cholesterol level and weight. And the medical director of Keck Medicine at USC is such a fan that he will give a free fitness tracker to any of the 7,000 members of his faculty or staff who ask for one. I’d call that pretty impressive support.
Sleep Data Could Be Invaluable
Getting enough sleep seems to be the next big health frontier. We are a nation that is constantly sleep deprived. And it is definitely having an adverse affect on our health. So, anything that can improve our sleep is good, right? While Dr. Khandwalla thinks that sleep data could be invaluable for figuring out a patient’s sleep quality, Dr. Michelle Grotz-Rhone, an internist in Beverly Hills, cares more about what a patient feels like than what their gadget might say. But she does concede that the sleep data from fitness trackers can be a great springboard for discussion with a patient about their sleep habits and how they can be improved.
Competition Can Be Motivating..
More about Katherine Stuart:
Katherine is a former movie executive and screenwriter who now runs her own content company, Content by Katherine. Her blog, the Best Friend Handbook, was born out of a desire to help other women feel better about themselves. As a lifelong best friend, fashion aficionado, former Pilates instructor, and amateur cook as well as the person that everyone comes to for advice, Katherine decided to take her opinions global, and create a virtual best friend. You know, someone who loves you no matter what. Who never judges you for eating, say, a quart of ice cream, always knows the best recipe for an impromptu dinner party and who can tell you exactly which eye cream will make you look like less of a hag the morning after one glass too many.
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