Technology, these days has invaded every aspect of our lives. In facts, we now try to measure every aspect of our lives with gadgets and gizmos available in the market. These health devices can track routine activities like sleep, diet, heartbeat, breathing rate, steps taken, water intake and every conceivable aspect of life.
Health and fitness is measured by a smart watch, fitness band and other wearable applications available in the market. Though many of these applications are truly useful to measure health parameters like blood pressure, heart rate etc. for ailing; they have begun to dominate the lives of people for whom it becomes their personal health information guru.
If the health parameters do not match the desired outcome of the application they are using, it causes anxiety and stress. Many health freaks end up with obsessive compulsive disorders. Several psychiatrists cisapprove of our dependence on gadgets to assess our health. They refer to it as the 'over monitoring syndrome'.
Instead of listening to our own bodies, which are the best judges of our physical and mental health, we look at the numbers on the gadget to tell us whether we had a good workout or sufficient and restful sleep at night. Since every human being is different, can an application accurately match and measure the parameters of each individual using it?
Another downside is that instead of enjoying the simple health benefits and pleasure of sport/workout, the completion of the target becomes the focal point of the exercise. The advice given by medical practitioners is that a healthy life is judged by our physical, mental and social wellbeing and not machines of any kind. So use gadgets judiciously and do not let them dictate your life.
Health devices are useful for:
