My wife and I have three boys who have become really good gift-givers as they have grown to be adults. They always give very thoughtful and interesting gifts and this Christmas was no exception. This year for Christmas, our youngest son bought both me and my wife a Fitbit Inspire 3. It was not something either of us had asked for or were expecting but it may have become the most appreciated gift received this Christmas for both of us.
The Inspire 3 is loaded with features to help with sleep, stress management, heart rates and rhythms, mentrual cycles, mindfulness and breathing sessions, physical fitness modes, and coaching sessions for various wellness activities. It also allows for text, call, and app notifications and is water resistant to 150ft. I have signed up for the 6 months free Premium membership that comes with the device, but I am unsure if I'll keep it yet as I don't know that I understand it's value outside of some of the coaching sessions and a little deeper data about certain metrics it is tracking.
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| Fitbit Inspire 3 |
Prior to getting this Fitbit, I have loathed wearing anything on my wrist but I thought I would give it a try. It is surprisingly comfortable! I had to use the bigger band included because I'm a big guy and the bigger band provides plenty of comfort. I was also unsure about wearing it to bed to track sleep but so far it has not bothered me. The band is extremely comfortable and I really enjoy wearing it because the daily data I'm gaining about my health and wellness is fascinating to me.
Sleep
For the last year or more, I've been halfway attempting to track the hours I have been sleeping each night in my Samsung health app. Sleep time has to be manually added and I'm terrible about remembering to do it even though it notifies me every morning to log it. It also doesn't give you near the data the Fitbit provides. The Inspire 3 tracks your deep, light, and REM sleep along with the time you were awake during the night (tossing and turning) whether you realized it or not. It gives you a sleep score each morning when you log into the app. What I have learned in one week is that I need to improve my sleep! Most of my scores are in the 70-80 range currently which is listed as "fair" sleep. I have noticed I am not getting enough sleep some nights and the sleep I am getting could be better. I have started adjusting some of my pre-sleep habits the last week to see what I can do to improve the score. More to come as I gain insight on this.
Movement
I have been wearing this device for just over a week now and I think today is the first day I really began to appreciate the movement notifications the Fitbit provides throughout the day. My settings show that I should walk about 250 steps/hour from 10am to 5pm each day to help meet my steps goal. If I am not on track with hitting those goals, the device gives me a little buzz on the wrist. Today I purposefully got up from whatever I was doing and made a few laps around the kitchen, office, and living room taking long strides to stretch my legs out. I feel so much better this evening. Most of my work day I sit at a desk doing reports and emails and I end up sitting too long throughout the day and get stiff and sore. I love that my Fitbit is now notifying me to get up and move!
Fitness
I have been looking for a good way to add a low impact fitness routine to my schedule that I could do at home in about 10-20 minutes per day. They coaching feature of the Fitbit has quite a few routines for this. I have been doing one for movement and recovery the last several days that helps elevate my heart rate, burn calories, and stretch my muscles and joints. It is low impact enough that I can do it without fear of hurting myself, and the movements are effective enough to get my heart rate up a bit in the ten minute session. I want to continue to explore other coaching sessions, but the one I have been doing is very good. I am excited to see how this impacts my overall health in the next few months.
Stress
Lastly, I am learning a bit more about my stress levels. I quickly realized the direct connection between sleep and stress when I only slept about 5 hours one night last week. My stress score that day was terrible. Most days it is staying between 70-75 out of 100 with 100 being great. According to the app, stress level is determined by heart rate variability during deep sleep, elevated heart rate while at rest from the day before, sleeping heart rate above resting heart rate from the night before, and electrodermal activity. Stress affects each of these items and you can quickly see your stress level each morning and work actively throughout the day to de-stress and improve your score for the next day. I still have some work to do with improving my stress score but at least I have a baseline to work from now.
These are just a few of the things I am enjoying about my new Fitbit that I thought I would share. More to follow as I learn more about the topics above!
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