The smart way to supercharge your daily life
andemic fatigue, lockdown loneliness, coronasomnia… very few of us haven’t been impacted by stress, sleeplessness and/or anxiety over the last year. But it’s sometimes hard to describe what is actually wrong as we swing from burnout to strung out in a matter of hours.
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Public service productivity decreased by 4.8pc in quarter 1 2020, according to the ONS
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There is a way, though, to start understanding our bodies’ reactions to the pressures we are under – by using an innovative smartwatch like Fitbit Sense. It helps you tune in to your body with tools for stress management, sleep tracking, heart health and more.
As well as the usual fitness tracking capabilities, (built-in GPS, Active Zone minutes and continuous heart rate tracking), the Fitbit Sense can also measure your skin temperature variation, blood oxygen saturation, heart rate variability and – in a world first – electrodermal activity (EDA) which may help understand how your body responds to stress.
EDA is gauged by testing electrical charges conducted by sweat on your skin. Placing your palm over your Sense after completing a quick 2-minute scan, you’ll receive an EDA graph that will show your EDA responses during the session.
Why are these so useful? Well, they may indicate how calm (or not so calm…) you were feeling. So to help you develop your stress management skills, you can access mindfulness content – including practices for breathwork or meditations – all of which are available on the Fitbit app within Premium. What’s more, a six-month subscription to Fitbit Premium is included with every purchase of a Fitbit Sense (for new users only).
In understanding how your body acts over time, you can become really empowered to make positive changes. The app has a health metrics dashboard tile which gives you advanced analytics of your heart rate, sleep, fitness, stress and menstrual cycle over time so you can easily see where you can make tweaks and improvements.
With such valuable personal health insights at your disposal you can become one of the 38 per cent of Fitbit users who developed healthier habits and behaviours during the pandemic, such as eating better and improving their sleep*. So what are you waiting for?
It’s important not to forget the human factor, says Jones. “Ultimately the existential nature of the pandemic has led people to experience a different style of work/life blend which many want to become permanent. To achieve this, ensuring the technology they have access to in the home is as good as the office will be key, and redesigning business processes will be important.
“As part of productivity, wellbeing must also be high on the agenda for employers. Remote working will bring new responsibilities for risk assessments as well as mental health support as part of keeping our workforces happy and engaged.”
Tracking your personal health through the latest wearable tech is the
easiest way to tackle stress, sleep better and optimise your wellbeing
24 hours with my Fitbit Sense
A day in the life of Sense super user Ella
Meet Ella. She’s 35 and works as a social media manager for a charity; a job that keeps her pretty busy, even with the switch to working from home for the past year. Ella lives with her housemate, Blake, and their three year-old Cockapoo, Bailey. When she’s not working or taking Bailey for walks around her local park, Ella loves nothing more than working on her shoulder stand pose or getting a sweat on at her local spin studio (when it’s open, of course), as well as scouring Pinterest for interior design inspo – being inside for the past 12 months has really inspired Ella and Blake to make the space their own.
Ella got her Fitbit Sense for Christmas, and although she does use its GPS tracker and Active Zone minutes functions, what she really loves about it is the way it’s helped her understand her body more; she’s learned what her stress triggers are (last-minute changes to work deadlines, for example!) and why on some days of the week she should switch her cycle sessions for working on her downward dog – checking her stress management score daily.
Wake up
7am
Thanks to the sleep tools designed to help improve my sleep, the Smart Wake alarm rouses me when I’m in a lighter sleep stage. I’ve woken up feeling more refreshed and ready to take on a busy day of work Zooms and strategy planning – right after my morning ginseng tea, of course.
Assess the night before
7:15am
Each morning while I sip my tea, I check my Sleep Score in the Fitbit app for an insight into my sleep quality. It’s based on heart rate, restlessness, time awake and sleep stages, so I can work towards better sleep. If I see a positive score (the range is from 1-100, with anything in 80 and above considered ‘good’), this means my body is well rested and ready to get a sweat on. I don my fave animal-print leggings, grab my headphones and head outside. My nearest park is only ten minutes away, and it has a coffee shop at the gates – great motivation!
Start my morning run
8:15am
Before I start, I put my Sense into exercise mode to track my run in real-time. The connected GPS helps me plot my route and the heart rate zone facility gives me a better picture of which heart rate zone I’m in. I really got into running during lockdown! After I’ve done my run, I sync my device to my Fitbit app to see my workout intensity map. I’m pretty happy with today’s result, so I pick up a cheeky cinnamon bun at the coffee shop and eat half of it on my walk home. I’ll save the rest for later.
Planning my day
9:30am
Every morning before I sit down at the kitchen table with Blake to start work, I check in on my Stress Management Score. This is based on 12 different measures such as levels of exertion, heart rate and sleep quality. I can see that my score is high today (the higher the score, the fewer signs of physical stress I'm showing), so I know I'm in a great place to tackle that tricky new project. I ping out an invite for a Zoom call to my team to talk about a new TikTok idea that’s been brewing in my head for the last week or so; I’m pumped to put it into action!
Work conference call
4pm
My catch-up with colleagues was productive, but the deadline is going to be challenging – and as I know, deadlines can be one of my stress triggers. Following the call, I grab a kombucha from the fridge and then sit still to do a two-minute EDA scan by holding my palm over the Sense's screen to measure my EDA responses. A burst of adrenaline creates a short-lived response to stress that can help overcome challenges, but continued responses over time can have a negative impact on your health, and that's something I want to avoid. The EDA sensor on Sense helps me to understand my body’s response to stress, and by adding a guided mindfulness session with the EDA scan, I'm starting to build a practice to help me manage stressful situations for a better outcome.
What are the long-term
effects of stress?
A burst of adrenaline creates a short-lived response to stress that can help you overcome challenges, but continued responses over time can have a negative impact on your health, and sometimes it’s hard to recognise them. Understanding your body’s reaction to stress is key to managing it and creating a better personal outcome.
Stress management is a skill. Improve your mental well-being with regular EDA practices and make a mental note to take advantage of the mindfulness sessions in the Fitbit app. Keep an eye on your progress within the Mindfulness tile in the Today section of the app to help you make mindfulness a habit to help improve your mental wellbeing. Set a weekly mindfulness goal, set reminders and practice meditation. You got this.
Thoughtful timeout
4:15pm
I click on Premium within my Fitbit app (I took advantage of the free 6-month trial, as a new user with Fitbit Sense) to follow my fave 10-minute meditation, complete with breathwork. I find taking time to do breathwork super helpful in bringing those moments of calm. By the end of it, I do another EDA scan and my responses are looking good, levels are back to baseline and I’m ready to enjoy my evening. Blake and I are planning to order in some poke bowls and browse windowbox plants for our balcony – bliss.
Analysing my
physical health
7:15pm
Whilst checking out the Health Metrics tile in the Fitbit app, I notice my skin temperature graph over time is slightly higher than normal. It’s likely nothing to worry about; depending on where I am in my menstrual cycle, sometimes my skin temperature may fluctuate, but it's reassuring to know it can be an early warning sign of potential illness. I’ll check it again in the morning to be sure I’m not coming down with something, and have a ginger tea before hitting the hay.
Lights out
9:45pm
I keep my Sense on all night, because it has an epic six days battery life per charge. This means that while I sleep, my Fitbit Sense is able to track the quality of my sleep; which is why I’ve been able to gradually improve how much shut-eye I get. And thanks to Sleep Mode I can snooze without any distractions so my body can recover and prepare can plan for another supercharged day tomorrow.
An advanced health smartwatch
Fitbit Sense – the advanced smartwatch focused on health, that helps you tune in to your body and guides you towards better wellbeing. Detect and manage stress, get low and high heart rate alerts, better understand your sleep quality and even keep an eye on patterns in your skin temperature. Of course you will have all the fitness features you love including in-built GPS and a long battery life with 6+ days. Sense also unlocks a 6-month free Fitbit Premium trial of personalised guidance and advanced insights for new Premium users. Plus all this comes in a modern and premium design.
*To determine how the global pandemic is affecting consumers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Fitbit analyzed the responses from a recent survey conducted by a third party on behalf of Fitbit in August 2020 of more than 14,000 people in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UAE, and the UK. The Fitbit research team also analyzed aggregated and anonymous data from February to September 2019 versus the same period in 2020 for those same countries, including step count, active minutes, sleep patterns, and activity types.
Tracking your personal health through the latest wearable tech is the easiest way to tackle stress, sleep better and optimise your wellbeing
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