Wearable technologies are more and more “in” our lives as
the technology develops and their features serve us into a healthier life.
After tracking the steps I have taken by my cell phone for almost three years,
I looked for a better alternative which I can pair with my android phone. I
surfed and searched for the better alternatives with long life and accurate tracking,
watched videos to compare and decided to buy Fitbit Charge 2 from MediaMarkt
where I can find the best offer.
Upgrading to Fitbit Charge 2 affected my attitude towards a
more active life and doing more exercises. Let me explain how it contributes to
my daily choices. In the early morning, I wake up with its vibration, this is a
feature which makes my wife happy because she no longer wakes up with me
because of the ringing alarm of my cell phone. Then I check how many hours I
sleep and the quality of my sleep (as the hours in REM increase, I feel more
productive). During the day, I have a goal of 250 steps from 9 am to 6 pm. My
Fitbit Charge 2 vibrates 10 minutes before each hour if I haven’t stepped 250
steps during that hour. This makes me stand up and give a break (especially for
taking water or going to toilet) while I am working on an Excel sheet at work.
Such short breaks are really useful for better concentration, true-story! What
I like most about Fitbit is it automatically understands when I start a sport
activity. During the lunch-break at work, I usually go to gym. Sometimes I use
treadmill but generally I prefer ecliptic and after I finish my exercise, I see
that it logs my exercise to its user-friendly application. The calories burned
are so close to the given calories in the treadmill or ecliptic cycle so it
makes me trust more. (break for a walk
because Fitbit says I need 133 more steps this hour) Similarly I track my
heart rate and compare it with the scores in the machines, there is +/- 4
points difference in the cardio or fat-burn heart rate zones, which is fair for
me. Besides I use automatic heart rate tracking and the app gives me insights
about my heart rate logs. I prefer going to gym at work instead of doing sport
outside because I prefer having time with my family in my spare time so I do
not have that much experience with Fitbit on outside activities. I only tested
its bicycle tracking once. My Fitbit Charge 2 does not have a built in GPS but
it can use the GPS in my cell phone. After starting a bicycle exercise on the
app, it starts tracking the GPS info and records it. When you finish your
exercise, you can share it on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook and
Twitter. Additionally, in the app you may see your friends using Fitbit and ask
them for challenges. While I am not that much a “challenger” this feature may
increase the motivation of the friends who aims to burn more calories with
duellos. Weekly, Fitbit sends a report which summarizes your last week and
compares it with the earlier week in terms of calories burned, active hours,
sleep times and your weight. I also need to add that one more feature; while
your smart watch is connected to your phone with Bluetooth, you receive the
call (cannot talk but you can see sho is calling) and read the whole SMS body.
For those who want to learn the benefits of a smart watch
like Fitbit, let me provide an executive summary:
-
It tracks the daily heart rate, hours of sleep
and hours of exercise with the type of exercise and calories burned
-
It provides you weekly reports, it notifies you
within the day and all these lead you to a more active life
So if you are interested in living a healthy life and take
more inputs about what you do on daily bases, a smart watch may be useful for
you. After using my phone as a pedometer for three years, I am upgraded to
Fitbit Charge 2 and I am more than satisfied with it after one month. There are
more expensive models with colourful screens under the brands Fitbit, Apple and
Samsung and there are various cheaper models on Aliexpress.com. If you are
aiming a more active life, the smart watch you will choose may increase your
motivation towards your goal.
For questions, you may directly mail me volkanyorulmaz@gmail.com
For other contents in English, you may visit http://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/search/label/in%20English
My first book “Sadece Hakkımı Aradım” is available on Google
Books: https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=WV1mDwAAQBAJ&dq=volkan+yorulmaz&hl=tr&source=gbs_navlinks_s
