Watches & Fitness Trackers for Wellness

How do you engage with and leverage technology to support your wellness? We hear a lot about misuses of technology in how we let it invade our personal lives. The flip side is of course that we can have agency when interacting with technology to use it to better our lives- even with our personal health.

Our new staff members probably are noticing that Apple has a prominent place at our campus. We are an Apple Distinguished School with many staff members carrying iPhones and wearing Apple watches. Apple continues to offer new health and physical fitness categories with their services. They do have some competition though. This past week a couple competitors made pretty big leaps in their health and fitness offerings.

Fitbit is a well-known provider mainly of fitness trackers but they also have watches. This past week they introduced a new lineup of trackers and watches. Their big leap in health and fitness services with their watches includes:

• Multi-path optical heart rate sensor
• Multipurpose electrical sensors compatible with ECG app & EDA app
• Skin temperature sensor

These new or improved sensor options provide a lot more data than the usual steps taken and sleep cycles. To learn more about the possibilities, take a look at this article from Macworld. The EDA feature looks to open the door to offering biofeedback on emotional arousal especially around stress. The Sense offers guided exercises to reduce anxiety when potential stress is measured. Here is an article that describes the process.

A new entry into the fitness tracker arena is Amazon. Who knew that they have been working to find new ways to enter into our lives? While we are talking about big data collection companies, did you know that Google now owns Fitbit? No commentary here but do apply your digital literacy and privacy awareness skills to read up on how Apple, Amazon and Google handle the data they collect from their fitness devices. 😉

The Amazon tracker is called the Halo. Physically it stands out for not having a screen. Yes, you read that correctly. The casing with the sensors faces inwards from the band on to your wrist. One interacts with the sensor readings via an app. To learn more about the Halo take read of a write-up from The Verge.

Data collection through assessment is a major initiative at our school. The data drives how we design our instruction. The crossover to our personal wellness is the same. We can gather and track our dietary, fitness and health data to better design how we manage our lives. The focus of this might seem to only be on the H in PERMAH but there is real carryover to

• increased positive emotions due to brain chemicals released during exercise
• deeper engagement in our various dietary and fitness research and actions
• relationship strengthening that can occur when we partner and support each other’s wellness efforts
• experiencing more meaning and purpose as we proactively add more design into our lives
• and of course there is the sense of accomplishment as we work towards goals and build healthy habits

I have mentioned the possibility of schools designing and building their own school wellness app for students, staff and parents. I could definitely see under the H of PERMAH module having a place to record information from one’s fitness wearable. 😉

Apple Watch Image

Halo Image

Fitbit Image