SuperWatches

Super Smartwatches and Wearables

Health and Fitness

COVID-19 .. Will your fitness tracker or smartwatch help identify if you have it?

Covid

Smartwatches could be proving valuable in the fight against COVID-19. Some countries including the States and the UK are experiencing a shortage in diagnostic testing. Wearable fitness and health trackers are providing a surprise solution to early detection of COVID-19 symptoms before the virus itself becomes present. 

At the end of June, the Senior Director of Research at Global Data said that wearable health and fitness trackers with heart rate monitors and other sensors might be a game-changer in detecting COVID-19.

Given that the virus is so highly-contagious, being able to detect it early is critical in reducing the rate of infection. Especially so as economies around the world are being opened up again.

Issues

The problem people are having is severe delays in getting their test results back. This makes it all the more critical that we pick up on the earlier signs. Data collected by our wearable fitness and health trackers are showing promise for detecting the virus.

Your fitness tracker or smartwatch might have the capability to monitor your health stats like your heart rate, sleep quality, blood oxygen levels, temperature and more. 

Currently, there are ongoing studies that are harnessing the data from wearable devices, including a huge selection of Fitbit users, to detect early signs of COVID-19. Results from these studies are looking promising, too. There’s a pressure on companies to address pricing as the benefits of their devices are so clear, but not necessarily accessible to all. 

Detecting covid symptoms

Fitness trackers and smartwatches with health sensors are an existing tool for getting an idea of your general health. Studies have been ongoing since before the current pandemic. Fitbit user data has been used to identify influenza in the past. Looking at symptoms like elevated heart rate during daily activities versus rest periods as a sign of infection. The new Apple Watch 6 is a fine example of a smartwatch that cares about your health.

Fitbit fitness trackers

Fitbit devices monitor both your heart rate and sleep quality. An elevated heart rate is a common sign of potential infection. Most Fitbit devices carry a heart rate monitor as standard. As they’re monitoring your heart rate around the clock, even when you sleep, any abnormal changes can be swiftly identified. 

Of course, your fitness tracker or smartwatch is not going to send you a notification with an official diagnosis. But what you can use your wearable for is to pick up any sudden changes to your normal functioning. In the case of COVID-19, you’re able to use common sense to decide if these symptoms mean it would be best to isolate.

Body temperature

We know by now that a high temperature and persistent cough are the two most occurring COVID-9 symptoms. This means sales in thermometers has rocketed. 

Temperature sensors aren’t yet commonplace in smartwatches and fitness trackers. The newly-released Fitbit Sense is one such device, though. The fact you don’t see temperature sensors often is due to the fact that it is a complicated process to get an accurate reading from your skin. The temperature of your skin varies wildly depending on environmental factors and it’s easier to raise or lower that temperature. Your sweat and stress levels also play an influential role in this. Because of this, the contact the sensor will have with your skin isn’t always optimal for an accurate reading.

Again, a high temperature alone isn’t a diagnosis, but it’s possible to look at a combination of factors that your wearable will monitor for you and you can make a better informed decision based on the data.

Sweat and tears

Ongoing development of sensors in wearable devices is expanding the possibility of using these devices for more diagnostic purposes. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on this development and, safe to say, has also accelerated it.

It’s been suggested that a sweat sensor be incorporated into devices. This would pick up on sweat levels on the skin. This could potentially tell us vast amounts of information about the user’s health. Including, alcohol and glucose content, sodium ion levels and pH. 

Did you know your tears are useful indicators, too? Technology is so advanced that there’s research into smart contact lenses.

Covid Research

Virus detection

As we’ve said, no smartwatch or fitness tracker can tell you if you’ve got COVID-19. To do this, they’d need to detect a specific kind of virus-specific acid known as RNA. 

Detecting RNA involves many complicated steps in the process. There have been developments in reducing the amount of equipment needed, but the road to having this technology in something you wear on your wrist is a long way off.

So, whilst the tech isn’t in a wearable format yet, the direction is clear. Virus-detecting wearables will eventually become a reality. The continuous monitoring of a person’s health will be connected to tech that will indicate if they’ve been in contact with the virus, which enables that person to seek medical treatment and encourage isolation.

Any airborne virus will require some truly sophisticated sensor to collect and analyse air samples. We’re starting to talk about some real space-age sci-fi stuff, now. Whilst the technology does exist to do this, there’s no sign yet of being able to condense it into such a micro format that you’d be able to embed it into a wearable.

Wearable and accessible

It’s a bold claim that your existing smartwatch or fitness tracker could help you to diagnose if you have COVID-19 (or not), but it’s not impossible. Unfortunately, like traditional testing, not everyone has access to a wearable device. They can be expensive and, largely, the market is aimed at English-speaking territories. Vulnerable people such as the elderly may also be resistant to smart tech and being monitored.

Research and development continue. Our wearable technology is becoming more and more focused on our health and fitness. Brands have a duty to make this accessible to as many people as possible because the benefits to society are undeniable. 

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The New Fitbit Sense Smartwatch

gym machine

The Fitbit Sense – The Watch That Claims It Will Help You To Manage Stress

Introduction

Are you still worried about COVID? Maybe lockdown has been a contributing factor to piling on some extra weight? Fitbit is about to release a new smartwatch called Sense that claims to help manage stress. Revealed on September 1 along with two newer models of the Fitbit Versa and Inspire.

The Fitbit Sense has multiple sensors to track your heart rate, temperature, breathing and even skin reactions. It analyses the data and calculates how your body actually responds to stress. It will provide you with a chance to relax through meditation and breathing exercises. 

All three releases will automatically record your temperature during the night so gives you a baseline and highlight any trends. This can prove useful for spotting potential illness or, if you’re trying to conceive, mark your ovulation.

Should I buy the Fitbit Sense?

Similar to the Apple Watch and Samsung Watch, the Sense will keep an electrocardiogram chronicle of the electrical activity of your heart. (Currently, FDA approval pending, but the tech is in place to be switched on).

Fitbit claim the Sense blows rivals out the water with a brand new feature. The Sense can measure your EDA, electrodermal activity, which is changes in how your skin responds to electrical activity. So, it’ll pick up on stress-induced sweat or heart rate variations. 

Your Fitbit Sense will use all this data to calculate a stress management score, displayed within the Fitbit app. Here, you’ll find helpful tips on how to manage it.

The Fitbit Sense comes in either white or dark grey and costs $329.95. You can pre-order it now and you’ll get delivery at the end of September.

Fitbit Sense Advanced Smartwatch with Tools for Heart Health, Stress Management &...
Fitbit Sense Advanced Smartwatch with Tools for Heart Health, Stress Management &...
  • EDA Scan app detects electrodermal activity which may indicate your body's response to stress and a...
  • The Fitbit ECG app has received FDA clearance and is available in the U.S. Availability in other...
  • An on-wrist skin temperature sensor tracks yours each night so you can see how it varies
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Fitbit Sense Features

To keep you going, let’s have a look at the features in better detail:

EDA Scanning

Monitoring your electrodermal activity means your Sense can determine how your body responds to stress. Knowing this can aid your efforts to manage it.

The Fitbit app comes loaded on the device. Place your palm over the display. This triggers the Sense to detect tiny electrical changes in your sweat levels. The reading will be presented with a guided mindfulness activity within the mobile app and you’ll get some feedback on how your body then responds to the relaxation or meditation.

EKG

Your Sense will monitor the electrical activity of your heart. The app will pick up on atrial fibrillation symptoms. Meaning, an irregular heartbeat might indicate a heart condition and your Sense will tell you this. Again, this requires FDA approval before it can be activated.

Heart health

The Sense has a brand new sensor that will notify you if your heart rate drops or spikes beyond a level that is considered normal. This data can all be found in the Fitbit app and might come in handy during a visit to the doctor.

Temperature

Your device will log your temperature during the night.

Stress management score

Utilising your heart rate and data about your activity levels, the Sense will provide a score between 1 – 100. The higher the number, the less stress.

Six months free Fitbit Premium

You get a free trial when you buy the Sense. Otherwise, the subscription will cost $10 per month. For this, you get a more in-depth breakdown of your biometric inputs. 

The insights and the following advice is personalised based on your data. Also, you get access to a library of workouts, relaxation and meditation tools, activities to encourage better sleep quality and even fitness sessions and games. Around half a million people in the US currently subscribe to Fitbit Premium. Can’t be bad!

The Fitbit Sense – A new watch with advanced tools

Finally, there is no need to be tied to your phone when you’re tracking a workout. This is a first for Fitbit. The Sense has GPS built-in. What’s more, it boasts around 6 days battery life. You can also connect it to Hey Google or Alexa for voice control of your smart devices (note, the Versa 2 only offers compatibility with Alexa).

So there you have it. What do you think? Can the Fitbit Sense rub shoulders with Apple or Samsung?

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The Benefits of Functional Fitness Explained

Functional fitness

Introduction

Functional training is a bit of a fitness trend at the moment. However, it’s popular for a reason. It’s certainly worth considering if you’re on a mission to improve your health and fitness in the long-term. But, what is it? Is it an effective form of exercise? Are there different ways to do it? You might’ve asked yourself these questions and we’re here to help you in this article.

What is Functional Fitness?

Functional training is focused on strength, for the most part. It features compound moves that utilise more than one muscle group within one movement. For example, when you work your biceps by doing bicep curls, you focus on just that one muscle. You’ll certainly build some strength and endurance that way, assuming you’re using the appropriate weights and number of repetitions, but it’s still an isolated movement. In fact, if you look around a gym, you’ll soon realise the machines tend to focus on one muscle each. Functional fitness argues that this isn’t a) efficient or b) how the body should function. 

Free weights and bodyweight exercises prioritise and improve stability, coordination and strength. This has the overarching aim of improving functionality in how you go about your day-to-day life as well as your athleticism.

Is functional fitness important?

Like other types of exercise, functional fitness is wonderful for your health. You’ll gain strength, mobility and power that extends what you can do in a gym.

What are the benefits of functional fitness?

Everyday activities get easier

If you improve your overall body functionality by increasing the strength of your muscles and endurance, you’ll develop better stability. This will translate into everyday activities and you’ll find they’re a lot easier to complete than before.

Compared to the outcomes of other types of exercise, this benefit outweighs a lot of conventional workouts. Its goal is to make things you would naturally do in your everyday routine easier. You’ll be less tired as a result, which will have a further positive impact on your mental health as you feel better equipped to manage your day.

Low Impact

Functional fitness doesn’t require any high impact on your body. As a result, it’s also accessible for all people of all abilities and fitness levels. There’s a starting point for everyone. There are different sessions you can try from novice to expert; it’s just about knowing your fitness style. It can be tricky at first to figure out your fitness needs and what movements you should work on, but once you do, your muscles and joints will thank you! They’ll repay you by lasting a lot longer as you get older!

You’ll increase your balance, posture flexibility and coordination

The range of motion needed in functional fitness is large. You should be start and end in a position that stretches your muscles. A key goal of a movement is to feel resistance. Boosting your functional strength results in better flexibility and thus better coordination. This is when you’ll see it paying off in your daily activities.

The exercises require you to utilise multiple muscles to improve your overall strength. Again, this leads into better posture. Something we could all use, especially if your job means you’re sat in a chair at a desk all day, potentially slouching. You achieve this because functional training needs you to use the smaller muscle groups that support the larger ones. This also benefits you by reducing your risk of over-training. 

Reduction of joint paint

If you suffer from back, neck or any other joint pain then functional fitness is only going to serve you well. It’s known for being the perfect middleman between a personal trainer and physiotherapist. Because it’s designed to improve your overall body function, back, neck, knee or other joint pain can be reduced significantly. Imagine how you’ll feel if you could walk longer distances without your ‘bad knee’ playing up? The pain of daily tasks that were once hindered can be greatly alleviated.

Reduce your risk of injuries

Practicing functional fitness over conventional training methods reduces your risk of injuries because it puts far less stress on your body. Essentially, it’s mimicking natural everyday movements. This has been evident in runners who reported far less pain having followed a functional fitness routine alongside their other training. Again, this is because of the effort put on the smaller muscle groups to support the larger ones.

You’ll build muscle

You might wonder if this is possible, considering it’s low impact. The concept of working multiple muscle groups means you’re training several areas simultaneously. Your results will be improved strength and muscle gain.

Summary

Hopefully, you’re energised and empowered to get your teeth into your first functional fitness training session. You don’t need any equipment to get started, and there are plenty of novice workouts online to get you going. You’ll be able to create your own bespoke sessions once you know exactly what it is your body needs. 

It’s advisable to have a fitness tracker to monitor your progress. For functional fitness fans, we think a multisport watch is a great companion, The likes of the Forerunner 945 is a perfect device, in particular. We reviewed it against the Garmin Fenix 6, and you can read that article here.

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Exercises to Try to Keep Fit

exercise

You might wonder how much and what exercises you, your kids or even your parents need to stay healthy?

Essentially, everyone would benefit from doing two kinds of exercise a week. Aerobic exercise and strength training. 

For those aged 5 – 65, we should aim for 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week. Undergoing a variety of activities over the week will help develop and maintain a healthy heart, muscles, bones and mind.

Ideally, we should be reducing the amount of time we spend sitting down. We do this in long periods despite overwhelming scientific evidence pointing to a downward spiral in our health. 

If we aimed to spread our activity out throughout the day, we would achieve 150 over the week. The activity itself, as a rule of thumb, should leave us breathing faster and feeling warmer.

What is moderate activity?

An activity that is moderately intensive will make your heart rate and temperature rise and your breath faster.

If you’re still able to talk, but not sing, this is the sweet spot.

We’ve come up with some suggestions to help you get this activity into your week, without needing a gym membership.

You’ll start seeing the health benefits, have some fun and even see a lift in your mood. Plus, it doesn’t have to cost the earth.

Once you start getting your 150 minutes a week, you’ll start to love how you feel. We recommend pairing any activity with a smartwatch or fitness tracker so you know you’re on target.

We hope you find something here that’s enjoyable and therefore you can work it into your routine as part of a healthy lifestyle

Let’s begin.

Walking

Did you know walking is one of the best types of exercise? It’s available to almost everyone. Also, it’s cheap because you don’t really need much other than some comfortable shoes!

It’s easier than you might think to increase how much you walk. You can get friends and family involved by walking with them or even joining a walking group.

Walking triggers your cardiovascular system. Meaning, your lungs and heart start working hard to provide you with good circulation. Your muscle endurance improves, too, especially in your legs and hips.

Smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 5 or more the budget-friendly Fitbit Versa 2 will send you reminders not just to get up and walk. They also have GPS, allowing you to map where you’ve been, count your steps, know the distance you walked as well as count how many calories you burned! 

Working out at home

You can burn some calories, lose some pounds and boost your mood using just ten minutes a day to exercise at home. Sound good?

There is no end to the number of workouts you can access from your smart TV, smartphone, laptop, desktop or tablet. Simply go to YouTube and try searching for any of the following workouts, starting your search with “ten minute” that you can do in the comfort of your living room, garage, garden or home gym, if you have one:

  • Cardio 
  • Toning workout
  • Bums and tums
  • Hips and thighs
  • Upper arms or upper body
  • HIIT 

There’s nothing stopping you from doing more than one of these workouts if you want to to 20 minutes, half an hour or up to an hour of exercise. You’ll be getting a great full body workout this way. 

The Coros Apex would be a fantastic workout buddy for this. It has all the features of a premium smartwatch at a fraction of the price. Additionally, it has a great 35 hour battery life so you can focus on recording your workout and not worry if it’ll need charging.

Jogging or running

Going for a run is demanding on the body, more so than walking. If you’re new, you must take your time to build your speed and endurance and therefore your duration of runs. If you like the idea of starting up but you’ve been fairly sedentary for a while, you’ll find running programmes like C25K really helpful.

The NHS scheme was designed to help total novice runners to run 5k within 9 weeks. You might find investing in a fitness tracker can help you exponentially We wrote about the best running watches in an article, here, which will help your decision making on what to buy

Cycling

Cycling is a great cardio exercise that gets your lower body working hard. If you want to devise a regular cycling routine for yourself, ensure your bike is the correct size and your handlebars and saddle are also correctly positioned to support your height. 

Cycling isn’t necessarily a solo activity. For example, you could get the family together on a Sunday morning for an hour’s ride and enjoy seeing your local area. There will also likely be some local cycling groups you could join. Most of these cater to people of every ability so you don’t have to be intimidated by pro cyclists going at a speed you can’t keep up with.

We recommend you head to our article that tells you everything you need to know about buying a cycling-specific smartwatch, after which you’ll be ready to read our review of the best beginner and semi-pro cycling watches.

Swimming

After walking and running, swimming is the third most popular sport, for the people of the UK, at least. Most swimming pools offer beginner lessons if you’re not totally confident or just want to improve.

Swimming is a wonderful full-body workout. It’s widely used by people whose goal is to lose weight and tone up.

Putting in just a few laps will work most of your muscle groups as well as being a great aerobic exercise.

If you have a regular swimming session and put in a consistent pace, you might start to notice a few pounds dropping off.

Again, you don’t have to do this solo. There will be groups you can join to suit your ability, classes for more novel workouts that require a bit of splashing around or you can bring your kids and watch them have a whale of a time whilst you patrol the lengths.

We’ve taken the liberty of writing a buyer’s guide for swimming watches and then helped you on the journey even further by reviewing the best swimming watches for 2020, check it out here.

Summary

There are five ways to get you thinking about how you can increase your exercise to stay fit. Every one of them can be enjoyable, and you don’t have to go at it alone. Find a workout buddy and make it a social event. Grab a fitness tracker that will work with you to help you achieve your goals and you’ll be there in no time.

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The Benefits of Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Can mindfulness really help us? We all rush into and about our day without stopping to really take much in. We’re tied to our routines. Paying attention to the moment you’re in, taking stock of your thoughts, feelings and your environment can greatly improve your mental wellness.

The word you hear people using for this state of awareness is ‘mindfulness’. This is the trick to helping you enjoy life and understand ourselves. To achieve this, you have to develop it through practice. 

Defining mindfulness

Mindfulness is generally accepted as acknowledging exactly what is happening inside and outside of yourself in a given moment.

It’s very easy to ignore the world around us. Equally, it’s easy to stop noticing what’s going on inside our own mind and body. We live mostly in our heads, but we’re constantly distracted by our thoughts. We need to stop and take stock of our emotions and surroundings. 

Mindfulness connects our physical self with our sensory experiences. It means proactively considering the smells, sights, sounds and tastes of that given moment. It might be as simple as thinking about how soft your clothes feel on your skin or the smell of those flowers in the corner of the room.

It’s not just the physical sensations we should take in. Also, we should be considering our emotions and thoughts at that moment and consecutive moments.

We should allow ourselves to be present. In doing this, you have a positive opportunity to change the way you view yourself and your life.

Mindfulness benefits 

Once you start mastering mindfulness, you become aware of the moment. You can, therefore, begin to enjoy your surroundings and a deeper understanding of yourself.

Becoming aware of the present moment and picking something to be grateful for can really highlight the things we might’ve previously taken for granted.

You learn about your train of thoughts and how you feel. Therefore, you get an idea of the thoughts that don’t serve you. Learning these patterns can help you break them. Over time, you learn how to steer your thoughts away from the negative. Doing this means understanding that your thoughts do not have control over you.

Tapping into a state of mindfulness is not easy. Once you begin, you’ll notice you can deal with things more productively. You sulk less, for a start!

You benefit from learning your stress and anxiety signals and you can do something about them before they manifest.

People suffering from depression have reported mindfulness as a wonderful tool for coping.

How can you be mindful?

It requires a level of proactivity. You must remind yourself to pause and pay attention to what you’re feeling, thinking and the physical sensations happening around you at that moment.

fit cardio

Every day has something to offer

You don’t have to be on a beach or looking at beautiful scenery to do this. You can do it in your daily life. Notice sensations. Think about the food you’re about to eat, how does it smell, how does it taste? Notice the air shifting around you as you move. These small things are very powerful and knock you out of autopilot. 

Be consistent

Choosing a time of day to practice will help form a good habit. It could be as you travel to work, when you’re in bed or taking stock in the middle of your day. Decide to actively notice those sensations.

Vary what you notice

Vary the type of things you pay attention to. Do you always sit in the same chair during a meeting? Try another one and give attention to how it feels. 

Monitor what you think

A big concern for people is that when they pause and it’s suddenly just them and their thoughts, this opens up the door for anxiety to step in. 

Mindfulness doesn’t aim to stop the thoughts from happening. It’s about accepting them as events. Consider a thought to be like a cloud. You can see it in the sky, but you know it will eventually pass. This practice of observation is difficult at first, but with consistency, you’ll get better at it.

Give it a name

Labelling what you’re experiencing can be helpful. If you’re worried about missing your dentist appointment, that’s anxiety. If you feel you’ve got too much to do and not enough time, that’s stress. Acknowledge what it is.

Let go of everything that isn’t NOW

If your mind drifts to the past or ahead to the future and you begin to worry, you should acknowledge this. Bring your thoughts back to now. What do you hear? How do you feel? What sensations are you experiencing? Don’t pre-live and don’t ruminate on regret.

Experiment

You could try incorporating meditation to stimulate mindfulness. Specific mindfulness meditation simply asks that you sit somewhere quiet. You practice the same exercise as we’ve discussed. Bring your thoughts to the moment you’re in. Then think about all the sensations that are happening to you. In addition, think about your breathing. Keep it calm, deep, lengthy and energising. Your mind may naturally begin to wander away from the moment and you use your breathing to come back into yourself. Focus on how it sounds as much as how it feels.

Tai-chi and yoga are fantastic ways to develop a breathing technique.

The Garmin Venu can be of excellent help with keeping your breathing on track, check out our review.

Summary

Sadly, mindfulness does not claim to be the answer to everything. You should certainly be enthusiastic about it, but it also requires you to be patient and persistent. It gets better the more you do it.

There’s positive evidence of the benefits of mindfulness in all sorts of situations from healthcare to the workplace and even prisons.

There are many dedicated apps that can help you develop your mindfulness. If you’re already a smartwatch owner, you should check your app store. Many are free, too!

Other fitness trackers and smartwatches come with a native app to encourage regular mindful breathing. The Apple Watch will monitor your heart and actively announce that you should take a moment to centre yourself, which takes away the responsibility on yourself to remember to do it, and helps form that good habit. If an Apple Watch is out of your price range, don’t worry. Most of the newer Fitbit models come with a dedicated app called Relax where you can select the length of time to suit you to sit, breathe and be mindful.

Hope that helps! Namaste!

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The Benefits of Staying Fit

Here is the article you’ve been waiting for. It contains the miracle answer to staying fit and living a long life!

The solution will halve your risk of developing a major illness like Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Best of all, it’s free. You don’t have to pay a penny for this solution. It works instantly, too. You don’t even need to see a doctor to get your hands on it and yet it’s totally legal.

What is this miracle life-extending solution? Exercise.

We’ve always been able to exercise in some way. So why do we neglect it? Or not do enough? It has such a damaging effect on our health if we don’t.

There is no magic cure. Regardless of your age, there is a wealth of scientific fact supporting the notion that staying active leads to a happier, healthier life.

Those who regularly exercise reduce their risk of suffering from chronic illness like those we’ve mentioned. 

More research indicates that mental wellness improves with regular activity, too. Mood, sleep quality, self-esteem and more serious conditions like depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s and dementia can be better managed. 

What are the benefits of staying fit?

The evidence is overwhelming. It’s painfully obvious that we should exercise regularly. Therefore, it’s simple; if you want a life of happiness and health, get exercising and stick with it even into your wrinkly years.

Medical data backs up the fact that those who are regularly active experience:

  • > 50% less risk of Type II Diabetes and colon cancer
  • > 35% less risk of heart disease and stroke
  • > 20% less risk of breast cancer
  • Up to a whopping 85% less risk of osteoarthritis
  • > 68% less risk of a fractured hip
  • A third less chance of having a severe fall
  • > 30% less risk of depression and dementia
  • > 30% less risk of early death 

How to stay fit

To get fit and stay there, you should be active every single day. Aim to complete 150 minutes of exercise in the period of one week. This can be done in immeasurable ways.

Most people enjoy a brisk walk. Maybe you have a bike? If you live within 5 miles of where you work, ditch the car and get your feet moving. If you’re keen on monitoring your activity and making sure you get the time and distance in, we recommend looking at our article on the Nike+ sportwatch which will be the perfect companion for you, with activity monitoring and a handy GPS feature.

The rule of thumb is that for any activity you do, you should be doing it fast enough that it raises your heart rate and you need to breathe a little harder. This is called moderate intensity. If you’re at this level, you can still comfortably talk, but you wouldn’t be able to sing. 

You can step it up to the next level, which is known as vigorous intensity. There is overwhelming evidence pointing to vigorous intensity benefiting your body significantly more than moderate intensity. Your breathing should become harder and faster. Your heart rate should go up more. To test it, you shouldn’t be able to say a full sentence aloud without struggling.

If you need some help to know if you’re at the right level, a Garmin fitness watch is your best friend. Check out our comparison of Garmin to Fitbit here to learn about the ability to monitor your heart rate zones.

Amazfit GTS

Physical activity is redundant 

Getting in enough exercise is a modern-day problem. Technology is largely to blame because it makes our lives so convenient. We drive our cars to work where we sit in front of screens for most of the day, we go home and machines wash our clothes and then we sit in front of another screen to be entertained.

Tech is taking out the physical labour of everyday tasks. We don’t even need to leave the house to fetch our food, which means we don’t have to walk, pack and put it away. Life is physically less demanding than it was for our elders.

This means we’re using less energy. The average adult spends 7 hours a day sat on their bottom. Those in the 65+ bracket spend around 10 hours of every day lying down.

The good news is, not all tech is bad for us. In fact, plenty of devices are created to combat this sedentary lifestyle we’re accustomed to. Your watch can be your personal trainer who lives on your wrist.

A lot of fitness trackers and smartwatches come with built-in fitness coach apps that motivate you to reach your goals. We’ve written about some of them in our review of the best smartwatches for 2020, and you can access that here.

Sitting down works against your fitness

You should be mindful of how much time you spend sitting down throughout the day. Making a proactive effort to be more active will naturally reduce the number of hours spent in a chair. 

Watching TV, being on a computer, driving or even catching up with your friends and family all mean sitting down. Here’s where those health risks start creeping in.

All ages benefit from moving often. Even limiting the total time a baby spends sat in a buggy can contribute to healthy development. We can all benefit from saying no to sedentary behaviour.

How to get active and enjoy the benefits of staying fit

The 150 minutes a week target might sound daunting, but there are a lot of ways you can incorporate exercise into your existing routine. You don’t need a gym membership, equipment, money, or even additional hours in the day. 

Head to our article about how to utilise being at home where we give you some ideas you’ve probably not considered, including a workout you can do on the sofa!

If you’re someone who spends a lot of time in the office and you think you couldn’t possibly fit in a workout, you’re wrong. Here we give you a number of ways you can easily get active during your day, even when you have a diary full of meetings.

Fitness at Work

We haven’t forgotten the parents. We know kids love to watch videos on your tablet or smartphone, but we’ve come up with a few novel ways to get your little ones excited about exercise, without them realising it. Read our article on fitness for kids, here.

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