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But fitness trackers also keep tabs on lesser-known health metrics. For instance, many wearable devices are available to track your heart rate variability (HRT), an indicator of your body’s capacity to respond to stress. While they may not be as accurate as an electrocardiogram (EKG), they may still provide useful data, especially if you notice your HRV worsening over time.

By Dr. Joseph Mercola

Mercola.com

Americans are increasingly taking control of their health via the use of health monitoring technologies, with notable benefits as a result. A Cleveland Clinic survey revealed that 50% of Americans use at least one type of technology to track their health, with most experiencing significant related physical and mental improvements.¹

If you’re considering investing in a fitness tracker or other form of wearable, health-tracking technology, however, there are some caveats to consider, including effectiveness and privacy. Here’s what to know about this up-and-coming artificial intelligence (AI) technology, from potential gains to which brand will best protect your personal data.

4 in 5 Users of Health Monitoring Tech Report Notable Benefits

The survey was part of Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute’s “Love your Heart” consumer education campaign. It focused on the use of AI for heart health, with 3 in 5 respondents stating they believe this technology will lead to better heart care. When it comes to believing health advice from an AI chatbot is trustworthy, 72% of Americans said they’d trust it, but 89% also said they’d ask a doctor before acting on the chatbot’s recommendations.²

The survey also looked into health monitoring technology, which half of Americans are actively using. The most commonly monitored metric is daily step count, with heart rate and calorie burn coming in second and third. For 23% of survey respondents, health tracking technology is a tool to help them stay motivated and accountable to reach their daily activity goals.³

For most who are embracing this technology, it seems to be working, as 79% said they’ve noticed positive physical and mental health changes. Top uses of health monitoring technology, as well as some of its beneficial outcomes, include:⁴

Which Health Metrics Should You Track?

Walking even 8,000 steps once or twice a week is associated with significantly lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk.⁵ So tracking daily steps — and increasing them when necessary — makes sense.

But fitness trackers also keep tabs on lesser-known health metrics. For instance, many wearable devices are available to track your heart rate variability (HRT), an indicator of your body’s capacity to respond to stress. While they may not be as accurate as an electrocardiogram (EKG), they may still provide useful data, especially if you notice your HRV worsening over time.

HRV measures the variations in time between your heartbeats — a function controlled by your autonomic nervous system (ANS). As such, HRV is said to be a “proxy of autonomic activity” that’s associated with executive functions, emotional regulation and more, including decision making. Meanwhile, abnormal HRV can signal problems ranging from neurological to psychological conditions.⁶

You can also keep an eye on your VO2 max, a measure of oxygen consumption during exercise that is commonly used as a marker of fitness level. Standing time is another health point to consider tracking. While regular physical exercise is important, so, too, is doing virtually anything other than sitting — including standing. This is why many fitness trackers have goal settings for not only calories burned and steps taken in a day, but also reaching a standing-time goal.⁷

Research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that sitting for more than three hours a day causes 3.8% of all-cause deaths in the 54 countries surveyed.⁸ More than 60% of people globally spend more than three hours a day sitting.⁹

Incorporating more standing into your day is an easy way to sit less, and it offers additional health gains, including benefits to blood sugar levels.¹⁰ Tracking your sleep cycle is another valuable use for health monitoring technology, which can reveal if you’re spending enough time in the appropriate sleep stages.

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