One in five Americans uses a smartwatch. There are many functions for wearable tech, with the emergence of personal fitness tracking being at the forefront. Although smartwatches can enhance certain elements of our health, there are also clear drawbacks. The reality is, these devices are much less intelligent than we may think. Despite the high price tag, wearing a smartwatch isn’t going to instantly shed 20lbs or boost your V02max. There are many cases in which it may do more harm than good.

Ø 在五个美国人NE使用智能手表 。 穿戴式技术有许多功能，其中最重要的是个人健身追踪的出现。 尽管智能手表可以增强我们某些健康状况，但也存在明显的弊端。 现实情况是，这些设备比我们想象的要智能得多。 尽管价格高昂，但佩戴智能手表不会立即掉落20磅或增加V02max。 在许多情况下，弊大于利。

As emerging diet trends cloud our vision, those with wisdom and expertise continue to remind us to ‘eat intuitively’. It may be time to scale back the complexity of our fitness tracking and take this same ‘instinctive’ approach.

随着新出现的饮食趋势笼罩我们的视野，具有智慧和专业知识的人继续提醒我们“凭直觉进食”。 现在可能是时候减少我们的健身追踪的复杂性并采用这种“本能”方法了。

This is the case against the smartwatch.

智能手表就是这种情况。

跟踪精度的缺点 (Shortcomings With Tracking Accuracy)

Are smartwatches accurate? The short answer is, it depends. Lisa Cadmus-Bertram, Professor of Kinesiology and Epidemiology, states, “Smartwatches are accurate enough to be somewhat useful for most people for most purposes… but it varies by what it is you’re trying to measure.”

智能手表是否准确？ 简短的答案是， 取决于 。 运动学和流行病学教授Lisa Cadmus-Bertram指出：“智能手表的准确性足以使大多数人在大多数情况下都可以使用……但它因您要测量的内容而异。”

A smartwatch takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

智能手表采用“千篇一律”的方法。

Despite having the ability to enter personal information into the device, some shortcomings are inevitable. For example, its function as a step counter is flawed. If you were to compare a walk on two different devices, it’s nearly guaranteed that these two values will vary considerably. Wrist-worn devices are going to record a lot of extraneous movement that has little to do with the activity at hand. For that reason, you’d be much better off with a pedometer attached to the hip.

尽管具有将个人信息输入设备的能力，但仍有一些缺点是不可避免的。 例如，其作为步数计数器的功能存在缺陷。 如果要比较两个不同设备上的行走，几乎可以保证这两个值会有很大差异。 腕戴式设备将记录很多无关的动作，这些动作与手头的活动无关。 因此，将计步器安装在臀部会更好。

“At any moment your tracker could be 20 beats too high or too low.” — Lisa Cadmus-Betram

“在任何时候，您的跟踪器都可能太高或太低20拍。” —丽莎·卡德姆斯·贝特拉姆

With tracking heart rate, watches have been proven to be fairly accurate at rest. During vigorous physical activity, however, problems arise. A study by Khushhal et al., reveals that the heart rate sensor has very good validity during walking, but this decreases considerably with increasing intensity. This misinformation can cause an individual to under or overestimate intensity which can limit progress. Furthermore, inaccurate readings could potentially place an individual at harm if intensities are being closely monitored.

通过跟踪心率，手表被证明在静止时是相当准确的。 但是，在剧烈的体育锻炼中会出现问题。 Khushhal等人的一项研究表明，心率传感器在行走过程中具有很好的有效性，但是随着强度的增加，这种有效性会大大降低。 这种错误的信息可能会导致个人的强度不足或高估，从而限制了进度。 此外，如果对强度进行密切监测，不准确的读数可能会导致个人受伤。

There are two main reasons why heart rate readings are so challenging for watches. Firstly, a sweaty wrist may interfere with radial pulse tracking, explaining why higher intensities result in poorer accuracy. Additionally, many individuals have a weaker radial pulse which is hard to discern. This can cause data to be skewed significantly. A more reliable approach would be to utilize a chest strap or palpate the common carotid artery (at the neck).

手表的心率读数如此具有挑战性的主要原因有两个。 首先，汗湿的手腕可能会干扰径向脉冲的追踪，这解释了为什么强度更高会导致精度降低。 另外，许多人的径向脉冲较弱，很难辨认。 这可能会导致数据严重偏斜。 一种更可靠的方法是利用胸带或触诊颈总动脉(在颈部)。

The lack of individuality carries over to calorie tracking as well. Although a watch can be efficacious for monitoring certain activities, there are some measures that it simply cannot track. For instance, it’s only guessing about your relative proportions of muscle and fat. These measures have a crucial role in resting energy expenditure, causing accurate weight loss tracking to be nearly impossible.

缺乏个性同样会影响卡路里的追踪。 尽管手表可以有效地监视某些活动，但是有些措施根本无法跟踪。 例如，它只是在猜测您的肌肉和脂肪的相对比例。 这些措施在静止的能量消耗中起着至关重要的作用，导致精确的减肥追踪几乎是不可能的。

In one meta-analysis study, it was found that wearable technology is poor at measuring energy expenditure during light activities, such as housework. If you’re looking to lose weight with a smartwatch, observe each measure with caution. Yes, it may be reliable enough to give you a general sense of energy exchange, but it has yet to arrive as the ‘gold standard’ of weight loss tracking.

在一项荟萃分析研究中 ，发现可穿戴技术在测量轻度活动(如家务)时的能量消耗方面很差。 如果您正在寻找使用智能手表减肥的方法，请务必谨慎对待每种措施。 是的，它可能足够可靠，可以使您大致了解能量交换，但它尚未成为减肥追踪的“黄金标准”。

再分心 (One More Distraction)

Beyond a lackluster tracking ability, smartwatches add another screen to our daily lives. A single notification can interrupt a training session, or it could lead to a car accident. For many individuals, exercise is a refuge from the blistering tempo of our twenty-first-century world. By adding another source of stimulus into the mix, the mindful nature of physical activity is quickly disrupted.

除了缺乏跟踪能力之外，智能手表还为我们的日常生活增添了另一个屏幕。 单个通知可能会中断培训课程，或者可能导致交通事故。 对于许多人而言，运动是我们二十一世纪世界起泡速度的避难所。 通过添加另一种刺激源，体育活动的正念性质很快被破坏。

As a trainer, I’ve noticed a trend of posting smartwatch data on social media. Although this seems harmless, it can quickly lead to a comparison game, leaving novices insecure and hopeless. With these workout summaries being inaccurate from the start, they’re only creating false fitness realities.

作为一名培训师，我注意到在社交媒体上发布smartwatch数据的趋势。 尽管这似乎无害，但它可以很快导致进行比较游戏，使新手缺乏安全感和绝望。 由于这些锻炼摘要从一开始就不准确，因此只会造成虚假的健身现实。

Furthermore, there is a question of security. Although these companies boast tight privacy settings, smartwatches are tracking virtually everything. From a child’s bodily health status to conversations at the office, these devices are always on the lookout. Although this is nothing new in our smartphone age, there is an additional level of intimacy and vulnerability with a device that’s physically attached at the wrist.

此外，存在安全性问题。 尽管这些公司拥有严格的隐私设置，但智能手表几乎可以跟踪所有内容。 从孩子的身体健康状况到办公室谈话，这些设备始终处于监视状态。 尽管在我们的智能手机时代这并不是什么新鲜事物，但是物理连接在手腕上的设备具有更高的亲密度和脆弱性。

智能手表的简要说明 (A (Brief) Case for Smart Watches)

An article is only fair if both sides are attended to. The reality is, certain populations will still benefit from using a smartwatch:

只有双方都注意，文章才是公平的。 现实情况是，某些人群仍然会从使用智能手表中受益：

• If you’ve had previous heart disease or problems with arrhythmias, smartwatches can potentially warn you of further complications. Again, take this with a grain of salt as the accuracy is gravely in question and false positives are a possibility.

  如果您以前有心脏病或心律不齐的问题，智能手表可能会警告您进一步的并发症。 再次强调一下准确性，这是一个关键问题，并且可能会出现误报。

• If you enjoy listening to music during a run, there is no better device in the market. Just ensure that notifications are off so you can enjoy a focused workout session.如果您喜欢跑步中听音乐，市场上没有更好的设备。 只需确保已关闭通知，您就可以享受有针对性的锻炼。
• If you’re the type of person that is obsessed with accomplishing ‘to-dos’, completing an exercise ring or meeting a step count may push you to be more active. Again, this isn’t the ideal relationship with exercise that we should be striving for, but it may be a necessary step for those who are looking to spark a new habit.如果您是痴迷于完成“待办事项”的人，那么完成运动环或达到步数可能会使您变得更加活跃。 同样，这不是我们应该努力与锻炼之间建立的理想关系，但是对于那些希望激发新习惯的人来说，这可能是必要的步骤。

There are many situations in which a smartwatch may be beneficial. It’s convenient. It’s ergonomic. It looks sexy. From a fitness perspective, however, it’s simply too inaccurate to warrant a 300–500$ investment if your notion is that it will instantly transform you into a health nut.

在许多情况下，智能手表可能都是有益的。 很方便 符合人体工程学。 看起来很性感。 但是，从健身的角度来看，如果您的想法是立即将您变成健康坚果，那么就不值得保证300-500美元的投资。

在结束时， (In Closing,)

Fitness trackers won’t kill you. There are many reasons to believe that they can boost exercise adherence and enhance accountability. Does that mean everyone should be carrying one? Probably not. Smartwatches aren’t as intelligent as you may think. With privacy and distraction issues, along with lackluster tracking ability, wearable technology can often take away from health and fitness goals.

健身追踪器不会杀死您。 有很多理由认为它们可以增强锻炼依从性并增强责任感。 这是否意味着每个人都应该携带一个？ 可能不是。 智能手表并不像您想象的那样聪明。 由于存在隐私和干扰问题，加上追踪能力不足，可穿戴技术通常无法实现健康和健身目标。

The reality is, we don’t need to be tied to a watch to achieve healthy living. Just like intuitive eating, exercise should be approached with intrinsic confidence and enjoyment, not duty or guilt. Run because it makes you feel alive, not because you have a statistical quota to meet.

现实情况是，我们不必为了获得健康的生活而被绑在手表上。 就像直觉饮食一样，锻炼时应该内在地充满信心和享受，而不是义务或内。 运行，是因为它让您感觉还活着 ，而不是因为您有一个统计指标需要满足。

-DavidLiira.Kin

戴维·里拉·金