There are high expectations. I can see the cold breaths of my competitors as they perform this “about to run” movement near the starting line.
I’m doing a community 5K race on a Saturday morning and I want to compete. Three, two, one…
Oh wait. I need to set up my Garmin watch. The guy next to me does the same thing.
Someone behind us groans. “I’m not leaving here until then… That’s it, GPS ready! I can start now.”
In the confusion at the start of a race, it’s difficult to see the pulse without a smart watch. And it’s not just us runners who use them.
This is a growing industry that generates billions of reais.
Brands like Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy, Garmin, Huawei Watch and Google’s Fitbit dominate the market, each with a wide selection of different models to suit different lifestyles.
Depending on the technological level of the chosen model, prices can vary from a few hundred to a few thousand reais.
“It (the smartwatch) is driving me crazy, I can’t turn it off.”
“He comforts me… He’s like a friend who supports me.”
“Stop saying I didn’t sleep well.”
Here are some of the comments I’ve received from other smartwatch users when I ask them what they think of their devices.
My opinion on mine? At the moment I find it irritating.
It tells me I’m late and I wonder if the trees I’m running under are blocking my GPS connection.
Millions of us strap these little monitors to our wrists and wear them 24/7 – seemingly okay with them constantly tracking us.
Gone are the days of relying on them just to give us an idea of our step count.
Now they can measure sleep patterns, blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), oxygenation, blood sugar, VO2 max…
It’s hard to find a bodily function that they aren’t able to keep up with.
But do they do what they say they do?
And do the statistics we analyze reflect reality? Do they improve our mental and physical well-being? Or does the plethora of motivational measures and messages only add to daily stress?
“I’m a bit obsessed with mine,” Rachael Fairclough tells me.
Although she likes the way the Apple Watch tracks her runs, she sometimes finds some of its other features “too much” — as she discovered when she became pregnant.
Before she realized she could turn on pregnancy mode, Rachael’s smartwatch kept telling her she wasn’t productive enough.
Now that she’s given birth, the clock keeps telling her that she had a bad night’s sleep.
“I have a six-month-old baby, I don’t need to be told I haven’t slept,” says Rachael.
“I know that very well,” she adds.
But couldn’t Rachel just take the smartwatch off her wrist?
“I could, but I have a love-hate relationship with him,” she says.
“I love him for his fitness insights. I just wonder if all the other things he can do now are too much for me.”
Each smartwatch model has its own innovative way of monitoring vital signs and interpreting data, but most use sensors on the back of the watch.
They typically emit small green LED lights on your wrist, which can monitor blood flow and detect heart rate.
More advanced devices detect changes in the electrical current passing through the skin to give an idea of stress levels.
Niels Peek, professor of Data Science at the University of Manchester, UK, says that in general for smartwatches there is a need for a “delicate balance”.
According to him, while the ever-evolving technology can indeed save lives, “by detecting diseases before symptoms appear”, it can also turn watch wearers into “overly health-conscious people”.
He says some of the newer models can perform tests such as electrocardiograms (ECGs), which continuously monitor heart health. They can signal whether a person has atrial fibrillation (AF), abnormal electrical activity in the heart that causes irregular heartbeats.
This doesn’t mean a person is about to have a heart attack, but it can provide an early warning that they may be more likely to have a stroke, blood clot, or heart problems in the future.
But the interpretation of this data is complex. Professor Peek is concerned that as more functions are added to these devices, people will not be able to fully understand the data.
“I’m not entirely convinced that being able to monitor so many things is a good idea,” he says.
Lindsey Rosman, a clinical psychologist and professor of cardiology, agrees. She conducted research on the impact of wearable technology on a group of patients with cardiovascular disease.
Although this is a small, specific group of patients rather than the general population, the study suggests that 20% of those who used these technologies to monitor their hearts suffered from anxiety and were “much more likely to use health system resources.”
She noticed a trend among her patients: they were seeing a worrying number on their clock. They were worried. Their heart rate increased. This made them even more worried. Then they checked the device again. And the heart rate increased again.
“If we see statistics about ourselves that we don’t fully understand, we will of course want to know more,” says Professor Rosman.
“We check and check and check again. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Some people have a slightly healthier relationship with technology.
“It’s not going to make me an Olympic athlete or anything like that,” says veterinarian Mark Morton of the Whoop device attached to his bicep.
“But it really made me think about my health.”
The father of two, now 43, uses a fitness tracker which provides a daily report on how well he slept.
“And it completely changed my attitude toward sleep,” he says.
“I used to drink a beer or two before bed to relax, but then I realized how much it affected the quality of my sleep.”
Now he wears a sleep mask, sleeps in a cool room and tries not to eat or drink at the end of the night.
All of this helped make him feel better when he woke up, which, in turn, was reflected in the device’s data.
Back at my run in the park, you’ll be relieved to know that I picked up the pace. My legs are starting to hurt and I still have to deal with that little climb around the corner. I check my watch again.
There is 1 km left and someone tries to talk to me, asking me my pace.
I don’t have time for that, my friend.
I take yet another look at my watch. Is what I see correct?
“It depends on what you consider correct,” replies Kelly Bowden-Davies, a senior lecturer in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK.
“They won’t give you lab-quality results. They won’t give you an accurate reading of your speed or pace at any given time.”
There are a lot of variables: For starters, GPS isn’t always reliable, she warns.
Additionally, if our watch moves on our wrist, it may not capture all the data needed for an accurate assessment.
Bowden-Davies says that because they aren’t subject to the same regulations as medical devices, smartwatches can’t give us a true picture of our health.
But what they can give us is a basis for work, according to her.
“This base may not reflect reality with the precision of seconds, calories or meters, but it is something personal, for you,” assesses the expert.
“Then you can find out if you’re doing well, if you went faster, if you slept better or if you burned more calories. They’re really helpful for that.”
For many of us, these watches are purely personal: we care about how we perform compared to last time.
And don’t even get me started on watches that let you track and compete with your friends.
I just crossed the finish line of the race and stopped my watch which read exactly 22 minutes and 28 seconds.
It’s not my best time, but I’m very happy: my final sprint was exceptional, modesty aside.
With this information, I say goodbye to this text. After all, I have some data from my smartwatch to analyze.