Long gone are the days when cyborgs were limited to science fiction realm. We, humans, have become cyborgs now. Everything—from our phones to activity trackers—is acting as cognitive, social or biological extensions of our bodies and brains. Many researchers have even predicted that we are going to be substituted by technically enhanced, divine and immortal beings in the next centuries— at least those who have enough funds to afford it.
The upcoming generation of wearable technology has been getting one step closer to such predictions. We are now in quest of bionic, data-led and body-centered technologies that will revolute what it ever meant to be human.
Recently, I’ve been counting the number of my steps every day with the fitness. The tracker that I got on my birthday, and it’s quite fascinating. Basically, people are keeping a track of everything they do, feel, and see. It feels amazing, to say the least.
My phone tracks all my activities without me even asking for it. It tracks the number of stairs I have ascended or descended as well as the distance I covered. It empowers me to track how much I stand up, let alone the number of calories I have burned in the specific time during the workout.
Simply speaking, the fitness trackers we use measure motion: a majority of the recent wearables have a built-in 3-axis accelerometer to assess movement in all directions, and some have a gyroscope too for calculating the wearer’s orientation as well as rotation.
Many companies have been organizing “walking clubs” with teams to compare and compete for the number of steps taken by each participate every week with the help of web development company. Such health and wellness programs are great to increase the employees’ activeness and productivity. Some companies also provide prizes, financial incentives, or diminutions in health insurance premiums when their employees participate in these competitions.
What Is The Purpose Of All Such Monitoring?
The technology we keep with us in the forms of our smartphone, watches or other devices has opened new horizons to leverage enormous amounts of data collected about us every instant. It’s crucial to consider that everything has a purpose. The purpose behind such activity trackers is to stay more cautious about the activities we’re doing in order to make positive changes for our betterment. Since the health advantages of physical activity and the health threats of being deskbound— are, well established, greater activity is a health priority for many. At this point, activity trackers are serving as an initiative.
Are activity trackers enhancing our health?
I think what many people don’t know or actually overlook the fact that activity trackers are useful in enhancing more physical activity, but it depends on assumption and presumptions. A wearable fitness tracker may not be useful in making you shred some weight, but wearing it can make sure you get around 30 minutes of exercise many days in a single week can actually help you live longer. To find the effectivity of such trackers, Duke-National University’s researchers have designed a study and competed for full-time employees who have using activity trackers with those without it. Each of the 800 employees recruited to participate in the study gave around $7 to register and then all the participants were randomly distributed into four groups for a year. The researchers examined above just the number of steps that were made. Study participants also had been assessed for more intense workouts and physical activities, blood pressure, fitness levels, weight, and they were questioned about the quality of life too.
The Results:
Bright side:
The people who were getting the cash incentive raised their daily steps in contrast to how they started at the outset of the study. That group was competitively more active as compared to the control group.
Dark side:
As soon as the incentives stopped, just one in 10 participants continued to use the tracker. And this resulted in a gradual decline in the activity levels of those people in contrast to when they started. This showed that the participants taking part in the research were probably more impelled than most to concentrate on the activity levels. They made an effort and paid an expense of recruiting in the study and accepted to undergo all the monitoring. Moreover, most people in actual life probably have no straight financial incentives to manage a certain level of activity every week.
According to Prof Eric Finkelstein, the Lead author at Singapore’s Duke-NUS Medical School: “Over the course of the year-long study, volunteers who wore the activity trackers recorded no change in their step count but moderately increased their amount of aerobic activity by an average of 16 minutes per week.”
He further added that “However, we found no evidence that the device promoted weight loss or improved blood pressure or cardiorespiratory fitness, either with or without financial incentives.”
What’s next?
As technology progresses and research offers more information about what works. Soon we will be seeing in an era where a whole new generation of gadgets that are more personalized and centralized to our needs. Moreover, activity trackers can provide more than simply shell out information about how active you are.
Google along with Levi Strauss & Co— the jeans manufacturer— has been working on to create clothing that will be interacting with our devices. Using the touch-sensitive surfaces, such apparel will keep a check on our weight gain, make phone calls, and understand our body language, and so on.
The fitness and activity trackers are expected to be evolved into biometric wristband aimed at calculating what is going on within the human body. Participating in the same initiative, the researchers at Echo Labs are presently working on a biometric band to assess the oxygen, PH, blood pressure, CO2, and hydration via optical signals.
Numerous initiatives are even in progress to produce implantable technologies, which could enhance human biology. Digital tattoos and internal microchips could substitute payment devices, smart wristbands, and so on in the recent few years.
Hope you have liked the post, let me know what you feel about the fitness trackers or share your experience if you have used any.
The global wearable fitness trackers market is projected to attain a revenue of $48.2 billion by 2023, progressing at a 16.5% CAGR during the forecast period (2018–2023), according to a study conducted by P Intelligence.
The market is witnessing growth due to the increasing demand for wireless and continuous health monitoring devices, rising utilization of fitness tracking apps, growing disposable income, and surging awareness regarding obesity.
On the basis of product, the market is divided into leg-wear, smart garments and body sensors, wrist-wear, and others.Receive Sample Copy of this Report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/wearable-fitness-trackers-market/report-sampleSmart garments and body sensors are projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to the rising collaboration of fitness, fashion, and high-tech companies.
The wearable fitness trackers market is bifurcated into direct and indirect in terms of distribution channel.
Between the two, the indirect category is expected to hold the larger share of the market during the forecast period, owing to the rising preference of customers for online shopping and growing number of online stores across the globe.Make an Enquiry before Purchase: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=wearable-fitness-trackers-marketGeographically, North America dominated the wearable fitness trackers market in the past, due to a large number of established players, rising spending in the healthcare sector, growing adoption of fitness trackers for health monitoring, and surging prevalence of chronic diseases.
The Asia-Pacific region is projected to register the fastest growth during the forecast period.
