Fitbits are activity
trackers.
These are wireless-enabled wearable technology
devices that measure data such as the number
of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness. While these devices appear to increase physical activity,
there is little evidence that they improve health outcomes.
Before October 2007, Fitbit was
named Healthy Metrics Research, Inc. Fitbit is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Fitbit was
founded on March 26, 2007 by James Park and Eric Friedman. In February 2018,
Fitbit announced that it would partner with Adidas to release an Adidas-branded Fitbit Ionic, which was
released on March 19, 2018. In August 2018, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBS)
announced a partnership with Fitbit in which BCBS included Fitbit's wearables
and fitness trackers in its Blue365 program. In 2019, Google announced its intention to buy Fitbit for $2.1 billion.
How to make the most of your Fitbit experience:
Create goals
Most Fitbit trackers allow you to set and adjust daily goal—such as activity,
exercise, weight, hydration, food, and sleep targets— at anytime straight from
your app [How
to set goals]. Your daily progress towards these
benchmarks can be seen on your dashboard. With certain devices, you can also
set a “main goal”, which programs your tracker to alert you via lights and/or
vibrations when you hit it. To see if your device has this capability, click on
the “Account” icon in your Fitbit app, choose the device you’re using, click on
“Main Goal” and choose one.
Customize your dashboard
The quick-glance tiles on your Fitbit
dashboard aren’t set in stone. You can add,
delete, edit and rearrange them from your app and fitbit.com so they best support your needs and goals.
Dive deep into your data The
detail screen you’re brought to when you click on a dashboard tile isn’t static
either. For many, you can scroll through the top panel to see more data
analysis and even get one-week, one-month, three-month, and one-year averages.
You may also be able to click on the day-by-day stats that make up the rest of
the screen to further investigate a specific day. This is where you can find
information like sleep quality, your longest stationary period, how much time
you spent in each heart rate zone, and more.
Get competitive
Want to compete against others? Create
a group on fitbit.com and add friends. From there you can
view the leader board to see how you rank against other members and have
discussions. If your friends list is feeling thin, don’t worry: Soon you’ll be
able to find other like-minded people through in-app
groups.
Improve battery life How
long your tracker’s battery lasts depends on which device you have, your usage
and settings, and other factors. Look
up your device to learn specific ways that may
help extend its battery life.
Log naps If your
tracker automatically detects sleep (all wrist-based Fitbit trackers do), then
any nap you take that lasts longer than an hour will be saved in your sleep
history. For anything shorter, you’ll need to manually
log your sleep.
Manually log activities If
you currently use a Fitbit
One, Zip,
Flex, or Charge, which don’t offer SmartTrack, or you’re doing an exercise that doesn’t require steps
(indoor cycling, the elliptical) or involves complex, step-based movements
(like tennis), manually logging the activity can improve the accuracy of this
activity’s contribution to your caloric burn. It’s also a great option on days
you forget your tracker at home. Here’s how
to use manual tracking, as well as
edit or delete automatic entries.
Request a weekly progress report Curious how you’re doing or want to make sure you’re
tracking towards your goals? You can opt into getting a weekly summary—that
includes weekly totals, daily averages, badges earned, comparisons with
friends, and more—within your notifications.
Set a bedtime reminder Hopefully
you’ve taken advantage of your ability to set a sleep
schedule, but how about a bedtime reminder?
Scheduling an alert that prompts you to start unwinding 30 minutes before your
bedtime target can help you maintain a consistent sleep schedule, which experts
say may benefit
your health.
Share pictures Have
you ever seen someone share on social media cool pictures of their workout or
screenshots of their dashboard, badges, or other accomplishments? You can do
that, too—and straight from your Fitbit app! Here’s how to share your exercise, stats
and accomplishments, Adventure
landmarks, challenge
results, and badges. Later this month sharing gets even easier with the launch
of Fitbit
Community.
Sync with other apps. Do
you ride with Peloton, sweat with Fitstar, stay organized with Amazon
Alexa, or train your brain with Lumosity? These apps and many more can sync with your Fitbit account
for easy data sharing. Take a look at all the apps currently
compatible.
Wake up with a silent alarm. A gentler, more partner-friendly way to start the morning
actually exists. Learn how
to set a silent alarm that wakes you with vibrations, and
then discover 13
other ways silent alarms can be helpful—you
can set up to eight on every Fitbit tracker except Zip.
“I have no doubt (that in the
future) wearable devices like Fitbit will know my blood pressure, hydration
levels and blood sugar levels as well. All of this data has the potential to
transform modern medicine and create a whole new era of personalized care.” (Michael Dell) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“12
Not-So-Obvious Things to Know About Your Fitbit Tracker” By Danielle Kosecki
·
“Fitbit” From
Wikipedia
This topic is inspired
by my wife, Bobbi, who takes her Fitbit with her everywhere she goes.
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