How to use the data from your wearable health and fitness technology to improve your health

Long before the first smartwatch was strapped on someone’s wrist, a company in Japan created the ancestor of this now ubiquitous technology. As part of a marketing campaign in the mid-60s, the company created a wearable step counter called the manpo-kei or 10,000 step meter. Over the decades, wearable health and fitness technology has evolved and become more sophisticated, tracking a range of health and fitness metrics from heart rate and rhythm to sleep, body temperature, and VO2 max. In addition to fitness trackers, wearable health technology has expanded to include devices that collect other health information such as continuous glucose and vital sign monitors, wearable ECGs to monitor patients with heart conditions, and microfluidic patches that detect biomarkers in sweat.

Today, nearly one in three Americans uses a wearable device to track their health and fitness. All of these devices collect data that you and your healthcare providers can use to not only track key information that can help you manage chronic conditions like heart rate disorders and diabetes, but also to develop and stick with a plan to improve your health and wellbeing.

Do these devices help people live healthier lives? One recent study that reviewed previously collected data on the use of wearable health tech found that these tools can empower and motivate people to change behaviors that affect their health, help them monitor their overall health as well as chronic conditions, and assist with the diagnosis of some health problems. Another study discovered that fitness trackers can increase how much physical activity a person gets, which can have a positive impact on cardiovascular health and weight.

Putting health tech data to work

The data collected by your wearable health and fitness technology is gathered in an app that’s associated with the device. You can choose to share that data with your healthcare providers, often through a link on the provider’s patient portal or via the device’s app.

The benefit of sharing this data is that your provider can look at the trends within the data set and note any changes, positive or negative, that could affect your health or suggest the need for diagnostic testing to uncover an undiagnosed health issue. It’s additional information that healthcare providers can add to traditional sources of medical information like physical exams, diagnostic tests, and biometric measurements like blood pressure to expand their overview of your health.

Using that data, you and your provider can create a plan to help you meet your health goals, whether that’s getting more physical activity, tracking the triggers for heart rate conditions like atrial fibrillation and tachycardia and bradycardia (heart rates that are too high or low), or assessing the quality and quantity of sleep you’re getting.

For the user, wearable health and fitness devices can be valuable as tools to motivate you and alert you to changes in the data that’s tracked. Most devices have prompts to encourage users to meet activity goals that they can customize. Many also “gamify” the process of meeting goals to keep users engaged, for example providing badges for completed goals and allowing users to compete with friends and family. Being consistently active can lower the risk of a wide range of chronic health issues including heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and weight management, as well as having a positive impact on stress management, mental wellbeing, and sleep.

Monitoring your sleep can provide information you can use to better understand what factors may be disrupting your rest. With that information in hand, you can take proactive steps to create a more sleep-friendly nighttime environment, whether that’s keeping your bedroom cooler, removing electronics from the room, or getting assessed for sleep apnea.

For people who are living with some types of heart disease, the heart rate monitors in wearable health and fitness tech can provide warnings of heart rate or rhythm changes that mean you should contact your healthcare provider or seek emergency care.

The potential downside to this information is that it’s often not as accurate or complete as data that is collected by a healthcare provider during an appointment or by an FDA-approved approved medical wearable device like a blood glucose monitor or heart rhythm monitoring patch. And too much focus on health information can make some users more anxious or exacerbate conditions like eating disorders and anorexia athletica (compulsively over exercising to lose weight).

Take steps to protect your privacy

Like any type of technology, wearable health and fitness devices have the ability to collect a great deal of personal information, including your location, scans of your face and fingerprint used to access the devices, and sensitive health data (for example apps that track menstrual cycles or the medications you take). If you use these types of devices, take the time to carefully review the privacy policy to find out what data is being collected and how it can be used.

Most devices have privacy settings that can be accessed through the associated app. Usually you can choose who, if anyone, you want to share the information with and if or when location tracking can be used. Make sure to protect your information with a strong password when possible and keep software and apps up to date to ensure you have the latest security updates.

Data is just one tool that can help you live your healthiest life

While data has a role to play in tracking and managing your health, it’s only one of the tools in your toolbox. Your PinnacleCare Health Advisor can help you build a plan to reach your personal health and fitness goals, manage chronic health conditions, connect you with specialists, and provide evidence-based information on health conditions, treatments, nutrition, and more. Connect with our team to learn more.

PinnacleCare is a member of the Sun Life Financial Inc. (“Sun Life”) family of companies. PinnacleCare and its employees do not diagnose medical conditions, recommend treatment options or provide medical care, and any information or services provided should not be considered medical advice. Any medical decisions should be made only after consultation with and at the direction of your medical provider. Any person or entity who provides health care services following a referral or other service provided does so independently and not as an agent or representative of PinnacleCare.

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