Five minute into his 5 - kilometre ( 3.10 - mile ) discharge , 50 - year - honest-to-goodness Greg can feel his heart poke . Although he ’s been train for a month , this will be his first run without walking interval . Greg wonders whether hisheart ratewill quell in the target zone , which in his case , is 85 to 145 beat per second [ source : American Heart Association ] .
Later , after a successful test and chill down , Greg checks the physical fitness tracker he wear around his wrist joint . In improver to depend steps and trailing sleep , thewearable technologyalso monitors his heart rate . Unlike the markedly increased beatnik per minute Greg sense throughout his run , the data from his wrist tracker shows only a slight increase inheart rate . He begins to marvel , how on the button does a wristband runway centre pace ? And is there room for wrongdoing ?
Bracelet tracker use an light-emitting diode light to make the capillary mineral vein in your wrist visible to a sensor that measure out how fast your blood is pumping . This information is then interpreted as your heart pace and is presented in a " beat per minute " data format . This sounds dewy-eyed enough , but there ’s a catch . To invite a interpretation that ’s as exact as possible , the wearer should be absolutely still . Talking , act or sweating could throw off the results , and these are three thing we typically do while wearing fitness trackers .
Another tough issue stem from the localization of the gimmick . As rakehell moves away from the heart and to the extremities , it slows to a rate that is lower than the rate your eye is actually beating . In fact , a test of five bracelet - expressive style fittingness trackers found they quantify the wearer ’s beat per minute at a far lower rate than an electrocardiogram ( EKG ) , a test used to supervise heart pace using the heart ’s electric signals [ source : NIH ] . In some cases , the fitness trackers put down a conflict of closely 50 beat per minute — posting results far lower than an EKG , even when worn at the same time [ source : Profis ] .
A fitness tracker worn as a watchstrap belike is n’t an optimal alternative for an extreme athlete — or even just an athlete interested in extremely accurate data . If you want more than a casual aspect at your heart rate , but still desire it in bracelet form , consider a philia - pace proctor spotter . Like a fitness tracker wristband , these devices need that you hold still to get an precise recitation . However , instead of taking a passive meter reading of your pulse , the watch take you to touch your finger to a build - in pad . The result is a more accurate reading , one that the average wristband fitness tracker ca n’t yet offer [ source : Zimmermann ] .
