Common Question: Will using an activity tracker make a difference?

It depends. A study done a couple of years ago found that wearing an activity tracker didn’t lead to much in the way of immediately measurable health outcomes. Basically, people who used them didn’t notice their blood pressure or cholesterol levels go down. But the study found those people were motivated to exercise more, which can obviously have healthy payoffs over time.

Trackers can be a good way to get a feel for how hard you’re working during a workout. That’s info that can help you either pick up the pace or slow down, so you’re working within your ideal and safest “zones” on any given day. They also can encourage you to be more active because you can immediately see your total activity for the day. Depending on what kind of tracker you have, this can show up as steps per day, “strain” per day, activity minutes, etc.