Tech For Your Health
The holiday season is almost upon us and many of you might be trying to think of a gift to give someone, or maybe you’d like to add something to your own wish list. Every year we see more and more tech gadgets coming out that can help us with the daunting task of keeping ourselves in good health. And why not? After all, health is of paramount importance in living a happy and fulfilling life. If you don’t agree then ask yourself this, “What will I have if I lose my health?” If you do agree then why would you not make health the number one priority in your life? Think about it. Now on to the gadgets.
Instead of buying something that will promote bad health, like a deep fat fryer to make lots of artery-clogging french fries, how about a heart rate monitor. I’ve personally used one for years and I highly recommend everyone who works out to use one, especially if you’re getting up in age. This device usually consists of a sensor on a chest strap with a receiver on a wristwatch. Being able to monitor your heart rate allows you to keep it in a safe and efficient range while not letting it get too high and overdoing it. There are lots of different manufacturers and models with a myriad of bells and whistles available but I have only used a simple Polar, and it more than meets my needs.
If you like to know where you are, where you’ve been, and how far you’ve gone you might want to have a personal GPS tracking device. Polar also makes these along with Garmin and others. You can save routes and review them later on your home computer or online. They can also work together with a heart rate monitor so you can compare new results with those of a past workout.
There’s nothing like progress to keep you motivated. Whether you’re trying to lose fat or gain muscle mass a body composition monitor will let you know how things are going. Tanita has a good selection of these. Not only will it weigh you but it will tell you your body fat, body water, and muscle mass percentages, and much more. These devices use Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to measure your body’s fat and muscle content.
Finally, if you want to keep it really simple and you’re able to walk, just do it. Walk. Aim for no less than 6,000 steps per day. A pedometer is the perfect companion to keep count for you. Simply clip it to your waist and go. It’s not very high tech, but it’s a gadget and it’s dirt-cheap.
So there you have it, a few gift ideas to help keep health your top priority. After all, once your health is gone there is nothing left. Now go have a steamy bowl of natto miso soup.
