3074: Are Fitness Trackers and Sleep Tracking Devices Accurate and Worth the Cost

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[00:00:30] This is Optimal Finance Daily, our Fitness Trackers Accurate and Worth It by Dr. Neil of OLDpodcast.com. And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Merriam. Welcome back to our Sunday bonus episode, where I like to share an article with you from a different podcast in our network, and usually overlapping with finance or money in some way. Today's episode comes from Dr. Neil over on Optimal Health.

[00:01:00] Health Daily, and he's going to answer a listener question. By the way, if you have a question related to health, nutrition, diet, or fitness, you can send one in to health at oldpodcast.com. And with that, let's hear Dr. Neil's opinion on paying for fitness trackers as we optimize your life.

[00:01:19] Hi, my name is Kelsey, and I am curious about fitness trackers like a Fitbit or a Garmin. I'm wondering if there's any evidence that there are positive effects of owning one of these. I've been thinking about buying one and wanted to see if it actually helped motivate people to include more activity in their day or not. Thanks so much.

[00:01:52] Thank you for your question, Kelsey. Just the other day, in fact, one of my friends who happens to be really into fitness came up to me. Well, more like ran up to me because they were so excited. She wanted to show me her new smartwatch. She was showing me how it tracks nearly every movement, from walking to jogging to even bicycling and swimming. With just a couple of rotations of the watch face dial, she could go into waterproof mode, and the watch would begin tracking her swimming strokes.

[00:02:20] Technology has been progressing so quickly, it's hard for me to keep up with all of these newfangled doohickeys. So, I thought to myself, how accurate are these things at tracking all of these movements? And as you mentioned, Kelsey, do they help keep us motivated and exercising more consistently? Well, let's find out. When it comes to their accuracy, as you can imagine, it varies by brand and the type of exercise being performed.

[00:02:46] I realized that some of these devices even track your sleep, which totally blows my mind. Now, in general, it seems as though most of these are fairly accurate at estimating the number of steps you walk or run each day. But beyond that, the reliability begins to vary quite a bit. I found a meta-analysis that looked at this very thing. Now, without getting too scientific, conducting a meta-analysis is highly respected within the field of research.

[00:03:15] This is because it involves collecting a bunch of studies that have already been published on the very same topic, like, in this case, the accuracy of fitness trackers. And then the researchers combine all of these studies and perform one large or meta-analysis on all of these findings. You've probably heard me complain that we can't base conclusions on the results of just one study. We always need to look at other published findings as well.

[00:03:43] And a meta-analysis does just that, which is why it is so respected. Okay, so back to what the meta-analysis actually found. As I mentioned, most fitness trackers are pretty good about estimating the number of steps you take each day. But when it comes to estimating the number of calories burned, they tend to underestimate. This was surprising to me since most trackers on, like, fitness equipment at the gym, like treadmills and ellipticals, tend to overestimate calories burned.

[00:04:12] Now, when it comes to tracking sleep, most trackers overestimated the time you spend actually asleep. When it comes to estimating actual distances traveled, it gets a little sketchy here, too. Distance tended to be overestimated when moving at slower speeds and underestimated at higher speeds. Most trackers have been found to be good estimators of heart rate, though.

[00:04:37] Unfortunately, I couldn't find any data on their accuracy for estimating swimming distances, for example. I imagine those studies are being performed as we speak. But really, well, who cares about all of this accuracy so long as it keeps people moving? It turns out that fitness trackers do keep folks motivated, but in the short term. So, having a new gadget or newfangled doohickey, as I called it earlier, can be a good motivator soon after you purchase it.

[00:05:04] Just like my friend that came running up to me, showing me all of her trackers' features. But that newness tends to wear off over time. Just like when we were kids. You finally got that brand new toy and swear you'll play with it forever, only to find it in the garage collecting dust a month later. To keep that sense of novelty alive, we need to find ways to keep things interesting. For example, you could think of the tracker as a game and try and beat your previous scores.

[00:05:32] Once you get tired of that, you could join a group and track your progress together, or create a friendly competition. The other issue is that these trackers don't provide users direction for improvement. So, let's say you hit a plateau and don't know how to proceed. The trackers won't tell you how to break through that plateau. Or say you want to get bigger shoulders, like I have been told I need to do. These trackers won't help show you how to go about this. So, how long does the motivation actually last?

[00:06:01] Based on the data I have seen, about four weeks. But here's my bottom line. If purchasing a fitness tracker helps someone go from exercising sporadically to becoming more committed and consistent, even in the short term, then by all means, it's worth it. I always try and weigh whether the behavior is more likely to help or harm the person. In this case, the risk of harm is minimal, except maybe to your pocketbook.

[00:06:28] Instead, a fitness tracker has a number of potential benefits. Plus, they can help you become more aware of your other health habits, like sleep or even your food intake. And we know that even small wins can help transform lives. So, if you end up purchasing a fitness tracker, just know that the accuracy can vary. And to keep you motivated, especially after that first month, consider making the tracking process more interesting

[00:06:54] by creating some friendly competition or getting your friends to join you on your fitness path. And now, a word from our sponsors at Betterment. When investing your money starts to feel like a second job, Betterment steps in with a little work-life balance. They're an automated investing and savings app, which means they do the work. While they build and manage your portfolio, you build and manage your weekend plans.

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[00:09:09] Thank you again for your question, Kelsey. Now, if you want to submit a question, it's really easy. You can email one to health at oldpodcast.com or you can call in your question. The number is 61-ILOVE-OHD. Or you can submit your audio question at oldpodcast.com slash ask. That'll let you record your question, listen back to it, and then submit it to us.

[00:09:36] Again, that's oldpodcast.com slash ask. Alright, that's another week of Optimal Health Daily in the Books. Thank you, as always, for listening every day and all the way through. Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back here on Monday where your optimal life awaits.