… I was especially intrigued by the notion of ditching the Garmin I’ve worn in tandem with my Fitbit for several years. The Fitbit was my daily watch, dutifully tracking my steps and calories and sleep, but it lacked Garmin’s GPS and heart-rate monitor. As a practical matter, that meant I wore one on each wrist when I was running, a look that signaled I was trying a little too hard.
A more robust smartwatch would be a nice-to-have for me, but it’s a must-have for Fitbit Inc. Since the initial public offering in 2015, the stock price has plummeted from $47 a share to about $6. Investors remain worried about competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., which Bloomberg Intelligence analysts describe as “dominant players with accompanying mobile ecosystems.” But they all take solace in a fast-growing market: According to International Data Corp., sales of wearables may reach as much as $34 billion by 2020, up from $20 billion this year.
The Good Full fitness features on a regular-looking analog watch. The Vivomove HR includes heart rate, step count and sleep tracking, and smart functions like notifications. It works on Android and iOS and has 50-meter water resistance and a weeklong-plus battery life.
The Bad The tiny touch display is hard to navigate. There are no physical buttons. It lasts longer in watch-only mode but won’t track fitness, and the glass body can collect scuffs.
… “We shipped a lot of units and made a lot of noise — and Nike is really, really good at making a lot of noise like this,” [Jordan] Rice said last week during a keynote presentation held at Cambridge Consultants’ Innovation Day event. “[The FuelBand] was the first wave of wearable devices [that] really put wearables on the map and created that craze. It was certainly a thing, landed us on the cover of a lot of magazines. We talked [at] a lot of industry events, and people were really, really interested in this whole ‘quantified self’ movement. We kind of created a perpetual motion machine in wearables at that time — and it was great, people actually really engaged with it, and that’s sort of how we judge the success of a product, right? …There was tons of engagement on social media, and people really got behind this idea and it kind of fed itself.”
… In 2017 we actually have seen very little new movement in the running-only GPS realm. Instead, what we’ve seen to date is the addition of a plethora of mid-range all-around fitness/sports watches that also do a mid-range job of running. What’s mid-range? Well, it means they can, of course, do things like GPS tracking of where you are, pace, distance, and laps. But most also do basic intervals and sometimes customized downloadable workouts. Whereas in most cases you get more complex recovery and training load features in higher-end features.
Also, we’ve had a bunch of new models in that same mid-range realm in the last 60-90 days that are definitely all-arounders. Things like the Fitbit Ionic, Apple Watch Series 3, Vivoactive 3, and to a far lesser extent, Samsung Gear Sport.
In a small study, Danilo Mandic from Imperial College London has shown that his hearable can be used to capture heart data. The device detected heart pulse by sensing the dilation and constriction of tiny blood vessels in the ear canal, using the mechanical part of the electro-mechanical sensor. The hearable is made of foam and molds to the shape of the ear. The goal is a comfortable and discreet continuous monitor that will enable physicians to receive extensive data. In addition to the device’s mechanical sensors, Mandic, a signal processing experter, claims that electrical sensors detect brain activity that could monitor sleep, epilepsy, and drug delivery, and be used in personal authentication and cyber security.
The current method for accurately monitoring sleep, a polysomnography, involves the patient sleeping in a sleep clinic, covered in electrodes. With obvious drawbacks to this method, researchers are looking for cheaper, lightweight alternatives that interfere less with patients’ sleep. One such alternative is ear-EEG, here, Dr. Kaare Mikkelsen tells us about this form of sleep monitoring and his research published in BioMedical Engineering OnLine.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal from
Introduction: The use of wearable activity monitors has seen rapid growth; however, the mode and intensity of exercise could affect validity of heart rate (HR) and caloric (energy) expenditure (EE) readings. There is a lack of data regarding the validity of wearable activity monitors during graded cycling regimen and a standard resistance exercise. The present study determined the validity of eight monitors for HR compared to an ECG and seven monitors for EE compared to a metabolic analyzer during graded cycling and resistance exercise.
Methods: Fifty subjects (28 women, 22 men) completed separate trials of graded cycling and three sets of four resistance exercises at a 10-repetition maximum (RM) load. Monitors included: Apple Watch Series 2 (AWS2), Fitbit Blaze, Fitbit Charge 2, Polar H7 (PH7), Polar A360, Garmin Vivosmart HR, TomTom Touch, and Bose SoundSport Headphones (BSP). HR was recorded after each cycling intensity and following each resistance exercise set. EE was recorded following both protocols. Validity was established as having a mean absolute percent error (MAPE) value of <10%.
Results: The PH7 and BSP were valid during both exercise modes (Cycling: MAPE=6.87%, R=0.79; Resistance Exercise: MAPE=6.31%, R=0.83). During cycling, the AWS2 revealed the greatest HR validity (MAPE=4.14%, R=0.80). The BSP revealed the greatest HR accuracy during resistance exercise (MAPE=6.24%, R=0.86). Across all devices, as exercise intensity increased, there was greater underestimation of HR. No device was valid for EE during cycling or resistance exercise.
Conclusion: HR from wearable devices differed at different exercise intensities; EE estimates from wearable devices were inaccurate. Wearable devices are not medical devices and users should employ caution when utilizing these devices for monitoring physiological responses to exercise.
Purdue University researchers have found a method of identifying biological markers in small amounts of blood that they believe could be used to detect a myriad of diseases, infections and different medical conditions at early stages.
Jeffrey Rhoads, a professor in Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering; George Chiu, a professor in Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Department of Psychological Sciences; and Eric Nauman, a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Basic Medical Sciences and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, are part of a team of researchers that has created microelectromechanical resonators, or small vibrating sensors, that can detect these biomarkers using just a drop or two of blood. The plate-style resonant sensors allows sensitive, inexpensive detection of biomarkers that can signify disease, illness or trauma.
Combined with the just-released, power-compatible version of Garmin Connect IQ, Garmin’s new Running Dynamics Pod ($69) can turn compatible Garmin watches into basic power meters.
Training and racing with a running power meter is different from running with GPS pace, and it takes a little mind bending to get used to this new way of doing things.
Try out some power workouts inspired by Jim Vance’s new guide, RUN WITH POWER, to get to know your new running power meter and start to see how power can make you a stronger, faster, and more durable runner.
It seems like only yesterday the hype of fitness wearables was the talk of the town. It wasn’t long until that hype died down and we were left with this sense of confusion with what to do with our impulsively bought not-so-smart, smart wearables. Thankfully, with the passing of time and the history of lessons learned, comes a powerful new biosensor.
Introducing Spire Health Tag – the World’s smallest personal health microsensor that adheres to your clothes, no charging or changing required. No need to replace or recharge this wearable, Spire Health Tags have a year-long battery life and can go through the washer and dryer without having to be replaced or reapplied. The Spire Health Tag is the industry’s most miniature biosensor that discreetly adheres to your clothes and uses advanced algorithms to provide personalized, real-time health guidance for sleep, calmness and daily activity.
… the future of digital nutrition and dieting apps is rapidly evolving, giving consumers a plethora of options for managing their diet and exercise.
Dr. Kyra Bobinet, a physician and author who specializes in behavior change and design thinking, compares losing weight to going on a journey, and sees apps as a sort of helper.
“Dieting or losing weight is a transitional period where you are going from one thing to another,” Bobinet told MobiHealthNews. “It’s a journey and you are going to need something that helps you on that journey, but it is a very different thing to end up where you want to end up, and you may need something else at that point.”
… Ultimately, I think Strava can be a fun and motivational tool for athletes, but you have to take the program for what it’s worth. This goes back to “it depends”. If you can be on these social media platforms and have fun without letting other people influence your long term training goals too much, then go for it. It becomes a balance of what is more important to you. If your goal is to win your age group in a triathlon, and you can’t resist sprinting up a hill on a recovery day, then it probably isn’t that beneficial to you. If you can use these program to your advantage then I think it’s awesome.
… emerging technology has the potential to aid in load management, reduce injury risk and assist in gait re-training, however it’s important we are clear that such technology is reliable, valid and accurate and that the data it produces is relevant to the individual.
Lower Extremity Review Magazine, Joseph Hamill, PhD, and Gillian Weir, PhD from
In spite of advancements in research and subsequent modifications to running footwear design, rates of running-related injuries have not decreased. That may be because researchers and designers have been focusing on the wrong variables.
Ski technology these days seems to move at lightning speed—just when you’ve gotten a new pair of skis, some fancy, new technology hits the market to rave reviews. It’s hard to keep up. But when you see where skis have come from, you’ll learn that, in fact, they’ve been constantly evolving since the beginning. Over the past few decades, innovations in shape and materials have literally changed the way we slide down snow. Here’s where skis started, the biggest innovations in skiing’s history, and a preview of what’s next for the future of ski technology.
… The average American spends 95 percent of their life indoors. As a result, we are becoming an indoor species, which comes with consequences. Our health and well-being may suffer. And the less we value our outdoor spaces, the less likely we are to protect them. It’s a slippery slope.
The long march indoors is not inevitable. We’re at a crossroads. Our decisions now will dictate our future. The Path Ahead captures trends that affect the future of life outdoor