Old age is plagued with seniors suffering from a host of disorders. However, by leading a healthy lifestyle, you can prevent illnesses. And if you’re planning on pursuing a regular exercise regime, pedometers or step counters are available as motivating tools to help you achieve your fitness-related goals. You can choose to wear these devices all day long or only when going for a walk. They help to track your heart rate and the number of calories you burn while exercising.
Fitness trackers perform a host of various functions. These include tracking sleep, monitoring heart rate, and counting burnt calories. All this, with their simple-to-use features and without being obtrusive. So, they are ideal for seniors who’re looking to monitor their health parameters, but without them having to deal with one more piece of complex technology.
As per a study conducted by JAMA Internal Medicine, you must take minimum 10,000 steps per day to remain active and, in turn, improve your health. To achieve this goal, a fitness tracker comes handy.
To count your steps, you have to wear smartwatches or fitness trackers on your wrist. However, to make the right choice in these devices, the Consumer Reports’ test advises on considering the following aspects.
Tracker or Watch: Which to choose?
If you’re wondering whether to opt for a tracker or smartwatch, then you must consider the different aspects of both gadgets. The wearables should be able to count steps, monitor heart rate and pace, and send alerts when you receive emails and text messages. Some watch models can also make payments via a cash register.
What aspects to consider when buying fitness trackers for seniors?
If you require help in choosing fitness trackers for seniors, the following considerations may come handy.
Heart Rate Monitor
You can avail trackers that are wearable on the wrist and monitor your heart rate. Heart rate monitors are helpful to control the intensity of your workouts. Elderly individuals are not advised to overexert themselves and take intervals between bursts of activity. The monitor issues notifications when to stop.
Display Size
One of the most common problems that seniors suffer from is vision troubles. Due to farsightedness, carrying around a small screen all day long serves no purpose for them. Instead, they must go with the bigger display screens for easy reading.
Tracking Sleep
Fitness trackers are designed to track sleep. Many seniors do not rest enough. And this function can help to record whether they are well rested or not and the hours they have rested for.
Many seniors also suffer from sleep apnea, so they may consider buying a mouthguard or sleep apnea pillow.
Long Battery Life
Most activity trackers are gadgets that do not have long battery life. So, users are left wanting for more. As such, the general recommendation when shopping for fitness trackers for seniors is efficient battery life. So, make sure that the fitness tracker you’re choosing for your loved one does not run out of battery soon and require charging at frequent intervals – to get value for your investment in such gadgets that is.
Easy-to-use and portability
Normally, the easy-to-use feature is given importance when designing fitness devices. Hence, a host of such trackers are available in wrist or band designs while the rest only have to be strapped on or clipped on to your dress rather than carrying them around all day.
Water Resistance
The water-resistant qualities of fitness trackers make for an important consideration – especially, in the case of seniors. This is because some elderly persons suffer from memory problems and can go for a shower while forgetting to remove their fitness trackers. And as a result of water seeping in, their devices could start malfunctioning.
Apart from that, you want an added assurance that your gadget will continue working if you accidentally spill water over them and not have to visit the repair shop often. So, always opt for durable fitness trackers.
Durability
Seniors who are above the age of 50 years tend to have accidents periodically. And during such accidents, their gadgets get damaged. However, if you go with durable trackers, the possibility of them getting damaged is far less.
Plus, the devices must come with removable and replaceable parts (like the frame). Then, you can only replace the damaged portions and save on expenses.
