Why Must One use a Fitness Watch when working out.

What is a Fitbit?

Fitbit is an American company that produces activity monitoring devices. People may refer to these activity monitoring devices as Fitbits.

Fitbits motivate people by measuring their progress toward their health and fitness goals. These devices usually allow people to track their achievements during exercise and assess the data via the Fitbit smartphone app.

People wear a Fitbit on their wrist to track their daily steps and help them improve their health and fitness.

Depending on the specific model of Fitbit, a person may also use it for:

• Tracking their sleeping patterns
• Monitoring and tracking their heart rate
• Keeping track of the level of oxygen in their blood
• GPS tracking during exercise
• Storing and listening to music
• Receiving call and text notifications
• Paying for items when out and about
• Many Fitbits are available, with various features.

Can a Fitbit help improve your health?

Some people find that Fitbits help motivate them to walk more regularly. Walking regularly can have positive effects on a person’s fitness and general health.

A 2020 studyTrusted Source suggests that adults who take 8,000 or more steps each day have a lower risk of death from numerous diseases than those who take fewer than 4,000 steps each day.

This finding builds on evidence from a 2015 studyTrusted Source, which showed that regular walking was associated with decreased mortality for males aged 65–74 years.

A 2019 study found that the use of pedometers — a device that tracks a person’s daily steps, similar to a Fitbit — can positively affect a person’s health. In the study, older adults who took part in a 12-week walking program with a pedometer were less likely to experience heart problems and fractures than the control group.

Therefore, tracking steps may encourage a person to walk more.

Another 2015 studyTrusted Source showed that Fitbits could motivate people to exercise more frequently. This study included 51 postmenopausal women and found that participants with a Fitbit increased their overall physical activity and number of steps each week compared with participants using standard pedometers.

Risks

It is worth mentioning that some studies have shown that not all Fitbit measurements are 100% accurate.

One 2018 studyTrusted Source notes that although Fitbits are a useful tool for motivating people to become more active, their measurements are not always entirely accurate.

A 2019 study concluded that Fitbits were not as accurate as medical-grade devices, and users should also be aware of potential data security risks. The researchers identified a vulnerability in Fitbit software that may make users’ data easier to access or change by malicious third-party applications on the Fitbit.

Therefore, it is advisable for people to use discretion when considering Fitbit measurements and not rely on them to inform healthcare decisions. Users may also wish to consider which applications they allow read and write permissions to when using a Fitbit.