Compared to a relatively short time ago, we now find ourselves immersed in a data-driven world where every action, interaction, and decision often comes from some form of data. From social media to online shopping to healthcare, data permeates every aspect of our lives. And as a numbers guy, I love data and looking at various trends and patterns to inform decisions. I think data can sometimes show us really cool things……. However, I also realize living in a data-driven world also raises significant challenges and concerns – especially in the health and fitness industry. The sheer volume and velocity of data can overwhelm individuals, leading to information overload and decision paralysis.
For example, just about any fitness device you use attempts to tell you a lot of information about your health. Whether it is steps, calories expended, “active” calories, heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep scores, recovery scores, body battery, stress, etc. (phew that was exhausting).
Picture this, you wake up ready to exercise and feel good, but your watch tells you that you are not recovered enough. Do you listen to your body or to your device? I would hope your body but sometimes with of all this data, we do the opposite. Moreover, although I am a numbers guy, I also would be the first person to tell you that you probably don’t need any of the data you are actually tracking to make progress. Heck, there have been a lot of fit and healthy people before the age of technology who did just fine in their health and fitness journeys. And again, while these can be cool things to track, are they necessary to track all of them? No. Any of them? No. And while that could be its own email in itself (i.e., why you probably don’t need any data trackers at all), that is not the purpose of this email. The purpose of this email is to share a few ways/items to track some of your fitness metrics that do actually relate to your health but won’t break the bank, don’t require a monthly subscription, don’t require software updates, and don’t require a lot of effort.
Let’s break down some of the options…
Product 1: Omron HJ-321 Alvita Optimized Pedometer
Want to track steps? Great. Daily step count is associated with all cause mortality so being aware of how much you walk is pretty important (1).
So, what is a cheap way to track steps? A pedometer! Pedometers are extremely cheap yet overall pretty dang accurate. And while I am sure most pedometers work similarly and are pretty reliable across the board, I personally am a fan of the Omron Pedometer.
I personally like this pedometer because it is small, straps easily on your waist band, and compared to a number of more expensive devices, showed the highest accuracy compared to hand counted steps in a study performed by yours truly (2)!
Product 2: Mibest OLED Pulse Oximeter
A second important aspect of health and fitness is heart rate (HR). Whether it is resting HR or recovery HR post exercise, usually a lower HR and faster recovering HR means better health and fitness. Research supports that resting HR is associated with total mortality and a number of other cardiovascular risk factors (3).
In more simple terms, your HR when you wake up naturally, before drinking coffee, moving around, or stressing about the day is a great data point that is easy to measure and can tell you a lot about your health. So what are a couple of cheap ways to track HR?
Option 1: Self-palpation.
Cost? Free! If you want to learn how, simply take your index and middle finger and place them slightly below the base of your thumb. Press firmly until you feel your pulse. Once you have it, count the total number of beats in 60 seconds. There is HR, nice and easy.
Option 2: Pulse oximeter.
Cost? ~$25.00. Pulse oximeter is a nice device that simply goes right on your finger and takes 10–15 seconds to measure both HR and blood oxygen saturation levels using infrared light. While there are a range of oximeters with some being medical grade and very expensive, there are many over the counter oximeters that are considered reliable and valid as assessments of O2 levels and HR.
Product 3: Oxiline Pressure X Pro
Similar to steps and HR, blood pressure both systolic (the pressure on the arterial walls when the heart contracts) and diastolic (peripheral resistance) relate to overall health and especially cardiovascular health (4). Increases in blood pressure during resting conditions are related to higher risk of cardiovascular death – making BP another useful data point to track.
Now, similar to HR, you could try to manually take your own BP. However, measuring BP takes a lot of practice over and over to feel confident with it. Moreover, if you are interested in exercise BP, taking it on yourself likely won’t be accurate at all. So, in most cases for people who are concerned with BP, I recommend digital. Now this device is the most expensive of all recommended products in this email (~$100.00).
However, the reason it is on the list is because if you truly are concerned with your BP and want to monitor it, this device appears to be the most accurate for the price. Moreover, it is easy to use and has good reliability (i.e., test to test results) in my lab. Lastly, if you want to track the best metrics related to your health, or you have dealt or are dealing with high blood pressure, then blood pressure should be one data point you are very aware of.
Product 4: Casio MS-80B Calculator
So I purposely put this one last because some of you might not agree with it but hear me out. So why a calculator? To calculate body mass index (BMI). Yes, you read that right, BMI! Now I know what people have to say. It is outdated, it doesn’t account for muscle, it doesn’t account for other characteristics. And to those who say that, you are right (sort of)…. But that also doesn’t mean it is completely useless.
For BMI you calculate as follows:
- Formula 1: (weight (lb) / [height (in)]²) x 703
- Formula 2: weight (kg) / [height (m)]²
So why is this an important data point? Because it is still an indicator of health in the general population.
For adults, as BMI increases, relative risk of all-cause mortality does too (5).
For older adults, having too low or too high of BMI increases risk of all cause mortality (6).
Now, you might be jacked out of your mind and walking around at sub 10% body fat, and if that is true, then yes BMI probably isn’t a good assessment for you at all. However, for most of us, even though it might not differentiate between fat and muscle, it does not likely change our classification that much. For example, if you legitimately have a lot of muscle and some body fat, you still should not be in the obese classification. Moreover, if you calculate your BMI and find yourself on the high end of overweight or low end of obesity, that still is an indicator of health since the amount of weight you carry in relation to body size (i.e., height) impacts things such as cardiovascular strain and metabolic function. Therefore, if you are actively trying to lose weight or are trying to build muscle while limiting fat, using BMI as an indicator is no different than using a scale and has useful health implications. So just like any other metric, use it for what it is… a metric. Don’t fall in love with it and only use it but don’t also ignore it because of bias against.
To Sum It All Up…
Data can be good. Data can provide important information regarding your health. But you don’t need to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to track that data.
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References
- Saint-Maurice, P. F., et al. (2020). Association of daily step count and step intensity with mortality among US adults. JAMA, 323(12), 1151-1160.
- Kendall, B., Bellovary, B., & Gothe, N. P. (2019). Validity of wearable activity monitors for tracking steps and estimating energy expenditure during a graded maximal treadmill test. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(1), 42-49.
- Woodward, M., et al. (2014). The association between resting heart rate, cardiovascular disease and mortality. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 21(6), 719–726.
- Glynn, R. J., et al. (2000). Pulse pressure and mortality in older people. Archives of Internal Medicine, 160(18), 2765–2772.
- Solomon, C. G., & Manson, J. E. (1997). Obesity and mortality: a review of the epidemiologic data. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 66(4), 1044S–1050S.
- Winter, J. E., et al. (2014). BMI and all-cause mortality in older adults: a meta-analysis. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 99(4), 875–890.
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