Fitness trackers
can be wonderful things. Depending on
the brand and model, we can know how many steps we have taken, how many
calories we have burned, what our heart rate is at any given time, and
(although I have no direct experience with this) even what kind of weight
lifting we have done. How cool is that?
However, like
sorcerers, we need to be careful with the servants we summon to help us. They make bad masters. There is nothing magic about 10,000 steps. We will not suddenly become healthy on that
last step, not significantly more than on the 9,999th one. We need to make sure we are using the tool,
not that the tool is using us.
If a tracker is
encouraging us to take the stairs or walk the dog an extra block or two,
fabulous. If, over the course of a week,
we discover that we are closer to 5,000 than 10,000 steps per day, we might
consider moving a little more. But if we
find ourselves obsessing because it is 11:30 at night and we have 3,859 more
steps to get in, we might want to rethink our relationship with the tracker.
Short
version: use the tool, but remember that
you are the one with the higher cognitive functions and good judgment.
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