Fitness gadgets may reduce the effectiveness of workouts, say scientists from Ireland

Perhaps every athlete has at least one fitness assistant in his arsenal. On the one hand, it’s convenient – gadgets help to plan the load, monitor health indicators and keep a record of workouts. On the other hand, things aren’t so rosy. Forget your workout? Smart watches will remind you. If you ate too much, the calorie counting app will record everything, if you gained weight, the scales will not flatter you. What can it lead to?

Candidate of Medical Sciences, founder and trainer of ERA running club

Excessive fascination with gadgets leads at least to mental disorder.

What do scientists and experts say?

Devices simplify our lives so much that it is sometimes difficult to do without them. There are even many memes on this topic: “I forgot to charge my watch, so I had to skip a workout”, “If a workout is not recorded in the app, it means it didn’t happen”, “Without selfies, a workout doesn’t count”. Yes, fitness gadgets are useful – they structure workouts, control various physiological parameters, analyze summary indicators. Rather, the danger lies elsewhere, namely in social interaction.

Alexander: Simply put, users of smart devices get the opportunity to compare their performance with others, share their achievements, participate in extramural competitions, and communicate about training. The fact is that smart watches, fitness bracelets and watches, various applications – all this, in addition to the main purpose, carries one or another functionality of social networks. Apparently, according to the creators’ idea, such features should raise the motivation of users, increasing their commitment to training. At the same time, as is often the case, technological progress brings new problems that have not been considered before.

Scientists decided to study the impact of fitness gadgets on users’ condition. According to the results of the survey, those who depend on various kinds of approval from the community, can not do without devices for a long time. Fans of encouraging marks (likes, comments, achievements in Challenges) feel guilt and shame if the training for one reason or another did not succeed.

Dependence on the device itself
Fitness gadgets affect the psychological state of the owner. A person quickly gets used to training exclusively with a smart device and in case of its breakdown can even cancel a planned run or a trip to the gym.

Toxic competition

psychologist

In the case when a person connects the “share results” function, he compares his performance with others. And if they are far from records, the positive self-definition formed up to that point suddenly collapses, leaving a negative residue: “I’m still not good enough”.

Constant monitoring
Another disadvantage – when an athlete takes a break during training, the fitness gadget continues to analyze: walking pace, heart rate, number of steps. On the screen now and then appear alerts “continue or stop the activity?”, which not only distract, but also do not let a person relax.

Tension
Veronica: It is quite natural that the situation described above gives rise to internal anxiety, which can manifest itself in the form of headaches and sleep disturbances. In essence, a stressful situation is formed, which a person experiences in a suitable and accessible way – with the help of food, alcohol, smoking, watching soap operas or mindlessly hanging out on the Internet. All this increases anxiety and forms a favorable ground for neurological disorders.

fitness trainer, nutritionist

The average gym-goer spends about 300-400 kcal per workout. But smartwatches track energy expenditure mainly by heart rate. The level of cardiovascular fitness is different for everyone. Accordingly, the reaction to the load, and therefore the indicators will also be different for everyone.

It happens the other way around, when a person gets so used to tracking his activity by hours that in case of their absence he does not count his workout. He creates a false belief: “I’m not doing enough to achieve results” or “I need to do more”. Many people really find it easier to see numbers and link their results to real indicators rather than abstract feelings. But you shouldn’t rely on fitness gadgets alone.