Hello everyone. This is a guest post from Chris Stillwell
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While this won’t come as a surprise to most (I’m preaching to the converted here), exercise and physical activity has been proven to reduce stress and is something that has been tested and documented widely.
The NHS have previously reported on research conducted by Dr Mark Hamer and Colleagues from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Univeristy College London, who revealed that just 20 minutes a week of any physical activity can impact on psychological distress.
So doing exercise helps reduce stress, keeps you fit and healthy and can help you live longer; it’s all win win. That’s fine for those already doing exercise and keeping mobile, but what if you’re not usually the energetic type and would rather stay put watching telly and playing with your gadgets?
Well if playing with gadgets and tech is your thing, how about trying on of these bits of training tech to peel you off the sofa and get you on your way to de-stressing and feeling fit?
Nike+ Fuel Band
This fancy looking band isn’t just an expensive bit of jewellery or digital watch (yes it even tells the time); it also contains a 3-axis sports-tested accelerometer that tracks the activities you get up to in the day and records it as NikeFuel (a measure captured by the device of how active you’ve been), time, steps or calories.
Whether running, walking, dancing or shaking cocktails are your thing, the Fuel Band will record it (not swimming though, sadly; it’s water resistant but not waterproof). Additionally any activity you perform that doesn’t really involve you using your arms won’t register as much fuel as say doing star jumps or boxing.
Each day, depending on how energetic you’re feeling you can set your fuel goal and as you move around and get active, the LED display on the band tells you how close you are to achieving your goal.
If you’re a bit of a data geek, the band also works with your iPhone to show you a record of the Fuel you’ve earned by time, day, week, month or year.
Fitbit One
Fitbit have been around for a couple of years now and although they have a couple of products on the market that work together, I’m going to focus on the One as it has a couple of different uses that aid in fitness and recovery.
As a fitness monitor, the One tracks the usual data (steps, distance, calories, stairs etc.) but at night it allows you to attach it to a wrist band that monitors your sleep cycle (hours slept, quality of sleep) and then analyse the data to give you a quality score that you can work to improve.
Maintaining regular exercise is important, but it’s equally important to maintain decent rest periods that allow your body to fully recover. With something like the One, you’re able to monitor your sleep levels to ensure you’re getting the sleep your body needs.
If you’re the competitive type, you’ll enjoy the goals and achievements you can record with the One. Once your account is set up, as you near milestones or goals, you’ll receive achievement alerts and get weekly emails to show your progress and stats. If you’ve got a couple of friends also using one you can create leader boards to compete against each other.
No matter if you’re 16 or 60, if you’re not currently exercising but are looking to get fitter and want a digital training companion, both these devices are a great option to get you on your way to reducing your stress levels, being healthy and living an active life.
About The Author:
Chris Stillwell writes for Confused.com. He loves tech and exercise so is saving his pennies to buy one of these healthy gadgets.