Gadgets I use to track my health
One thing that keeps me really motivated when it comes to fitness and wellness is health gadgets. Truth to be told, I would probably be a real slacker if I wasn’t able to track my training. For years I’ve been tracking my running sessions, my power walks and all other activities that I count as a workout. Personally, I find it very beneficial for me to use health gadgets to get insights about my daily training and habits. However, I know this is not a general thing, as people in my immediate circle thinks the opposite. So, I wouldn’t say that health gadgets is great for everyone but they works very well in terms on getting me motivated and active. I think other biohackers are prepared to agree.
With health gadgets such as a smart watch, a sleep ring, apps and a body fat scale, I can motivate myself to make healthy lifestyle choices. I can also set motivating goals and follow the progress. It’s like I gamify my own life. As an “all in” or nothing person, that suits me well. Although, it can be important to highlight the negative aspects of using health gadgets as well. For example it can become a stressor in your life. You may also set too high goals which can lead to disappointments when you don’t succeed. Sometimes, our body’s just need to rest. This may conflict with your goals regarding how many steps you should take in a day etc.
Garmin Venu® 2S – Activity Watch
My dearest possession when it comes to health gadgets must be my Garmin Venu® 2S Watch. I’ve been using Garmin’s smart watches for years and tried several different models. When it comes to workout, fitness and cardio, Garmin Venu® 2S is my “go to” smart watch. With this watch I can track more than 25 different sports and get all the health- and training statistics that I need. I can check my puls, my stress and my activity level. Actually, my Garmin watch also tracks my sleep but I use other specialized gadgets for that. Sleep is not one of Garmin’s specialities and I don’t think the tracking of my sleep is accurate.
With my Garmin Venu® 2S I can also see how my VO2 Max is progressing. Another cool thing is that you can measure your metabolic age with Garmin Venu® 2S Watch . According to my watch, my metabolic age is 34,5 while my biological age is 40. With that information I can motivate myself to continue training and living a healthy lifestyle. With this health gadget I track my tennis sessions, my gym sessions my runs and my power walks. I also have activity goals and step goals. During over hundreds of days in a row, I’ve been walking at least 10,000 steps per day. My ambition is to continue with this as long as I can.
Oura Ring – Smart Ring
Another health gadget that I use on a daily basis is my Oura Ring. This is a new gadget in my collection and I have only been wearing it for about a month now. I see my Oura Ring as a complement to my activity watch. As our fingers provide the most accurate reading for important biometrics such as body temperature, heart rate and blood oxygen, this is the perfect gadget to use to measure these metrics. The main focus of the Oura Ring is sleep measurement. This gadget tracks how the quality of your sleep is as well how much sleep you get in each stage (deep, REM and light). This is something that my Garmin Watch does as well, but not nearly as accurate as the Oura Ring does.
After every night, the Oura Ring will give you a sleep score between 1-100. This score will tell you how ready you are for the new day and certain activities. You will also get tips on how you can improve your sleep and what’s the optimal time for you to go to bed each night. The Oura Ring is also a good tool for keeping track on your period and they have a co-operation with Natural Cycles. As the ring measure your temperature you will also get signals if you’re about to get sick.
The Oura Ring also imports training information from other health tools such as the Garmin Watch. So you don’t have to use both the gadgets to track your activity. When it comes to activity and training tracking, the Garmin Watch is my main source. Even though the Oura Ring itself also is available to track activities such as walking and running.
BF 700 Diagnostic Scale
For weight measurement and body composition I use a BF 700 Diagnostic Scale from Beurer. This is an old body scale that’s no longer for sale. I actually also have an Index S2 Scale from Garmin where all the data is transferred directly to my smart watch. Unfortunately the Index S2 Scale has some issues such as the body fat percentage accuracy. So for now, I only use the BF 700 Diagnostic Scale from Beurer. With this body scale I can find out my body weight, my muscle mass, my body fat, my bone mass and body water. When I weight myself, all data is transferred to my Beurer HealthManager app automatically. Via my body scale I also get to see my BMI, my BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) and my AMR (Active Metabolic Rate).
A try not to focus on my weight too much but it can be interesting to measure things such as muscle mass. This data gives me an indication of how my training is impacting my body composition.
Conclusion
With these three health gadgets I can get an overall picture of my current health status. Of course it’s also important to listen to your body’s signals and how you feel. At the end of the day, it’s how we experience our health that matters. Good health values are a small consolation if you are not feeling well or are dissatisfied with your life and body.
I use all these health gadgets in my daily life but I try not to make them rule my life. It’s good if I can get some motivation from them, but I always listen to my body first. Beside the three health gadgets that I’ve mentioned in this post, I also use different health apps. If you have any health app or health gadget that you can recommend, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Note: Hacks4wellness.com is not sponsored by any of the mentioned brands
