Local Life - Wigan - August 2021

26
The best tech for
healthy living
From fitness to fat
monitoring, smart trackers
and smart tape
APPLE WATCH SERIES 6
Health technology is big business: we all want to live
healthier, happier lives, and gadgets range from the
relatively simple, such as smart scales, to all-singing
devices such as the Apple Watch with its built-in
heart rate monitor, blood oxygen monitoring and
fitness tracking – tracking that can include dancing
as well as more traditional forms of workout. There’s
a wide range of stand-alone health devices too,
such as Omron’s blood pressure monitor, and a
whole host of infrared thermometers that give you
instant results.
You don’t need to be an athlete in training to
benefit from a fitness tracker: a dedicated tracker
such as a Fitbit is a great way to motivate yourself
to walk more, and the kid-focused Fitbit Ace 3 has
our young ones charging around the garden trying
to beat each others’ step counts. More advanced
models for the grown-ups, such as the gorgeous
Fitbit Luxe, include a wide range of health-tracking
features including sleep tracking, menstrual cycle
tracking, GPS route recording and blood oxygen
saturation monitoring.
Smart scales can be a useful way to monitor your
progress, because weight alone is a terrible
indicator: if you start working out you’ll often
find you put on weight because muscle
is heavier than fat. Eufy’s Smart Scale C1
connects to your phone and to fitness apps,
enabling you to measure and track your
body composition over time – and with
support for sixteen different users you can
use it for the entire family. And you can team it
up with a smart measuring tape such as Bagel
Labs’ Pie, which you can use to measure and
track the size of biceps, bust, calves, hips, thighs,
waist and shoulders. It’s not cheap – it’s around
£70 – but it’s clever and there are similar, cheaper
alternatives that do much the same thing. As with
smart scales, smart tapes connect via Bluetooth to
an app on your phone, so you can track changes
over time as you become more buff.
The Apple Watch has evolved
into an elegant, powerful and
very useful health tracking
device thanks to its mix of
sensors and a world of healthrelated
apps. It looks great too.
£379, apple.com
OMRON H4 BLOOD
PRESSURE MONITOR
If you need to monitor
your blood pressure at
home, Omron’s products
are affordable, easy to use
and deliver accurate results
very quickly.
PIE SMART TAPE
£66, currys.co.uk
The Pie is no ordinary tape.
It’s a Bluetooth tape with
an app designed to track
changes in specific bits of
your body, such as your
biceps or your thighs.
£70, amazon.co.uk
ANKER EUFY SMART SCALE C1
Eufy comes from electronics
giant Anker and the C1 is a
typically well-made product that
does exactly what you’d expect
and does it really well. It’s great
for tracking body composition.
£29, shop.bt.com
FITBIT LUXE
Not all Fitbits are plasticky: the Luxe
is gorgeous and looks great with a
formal outfit as well as when you’re in
activewear. It’s a superb fitness tracker.
£169, fitbit.com