How to Get the Most Out of Your Smartwatch
How to get the most out of your smart watch when it comes to your fitness
If you're looking to improve your health this year, you may be considering different options to help track your fitness goals.
You're not alone about one in five Australians ownwearable fitness trackers.
But withdifferent options to track things like step count, heart rate, and even water intake it can feel overwhelming especially those notifications telling you to move after a big day.
So how can you make these devices work for you?
The potential benefits of a smart watch
Reports show our physical activity declines as we age but that's where a smart watch can help, says Professor Carol Maher, who researches the positive health impacts of wearable technology.
"The number one benefit of using them is being aware of how much physical activity you're doing each day," she says.
In one study, smart watches helped participants (aged 1865) to increase their daily step count by 1,850 steps per day.
"It's particularly helpful for people working from home at the moment who might be missing out on 'incidental' physical activity, like walking to the coffee shop," Ms Maher says.
Another studyfound with frequent use over a long period of time (57 months),smart watchesbecame a good tool to help make exercise a habit that sticks.
What can a smart watch measure?
The majority of smart watches can do the basics for you likemonitor your heart rate, sleep patterns and steps. They also havemore advanced features like GPS tracking for outdoor running, to monitoring the oxygen level in your blood.
It sounds helpful but the reality is, you probably don't need all of these functions, so exercise physiologist Jonathan Peake says save yourself some money by thinking about why you want a smart watch and how you're going to use it.
"There are three basic functions that would help most people hit their health or physical activity goals and they are: step counts to measure physical activity, estimate of calorie counts, and measurement of heart rate," he says.
If you're someone who just wants to move more by increasing your daily step count, then you can skip out on all the extra features and get something basic.
If you do rigorous exercise likerunning or weight training a few times a week, then keeping an eye on your heartratecould be more beneficial for you.
"Monitoring your resting heart rate when youwake up can be a useful tool. If it's higher than normal for a period of a few days, this might indicate the body is stressed, and youneed to relax or get more sleep," Dr Peake explains.
If you do think a heart rate monitor will be useful for you, track your stats over time and if your resting heart rate decreases,that's a good signyou're improving your cardiovascular endurance.
But overall, Dr Peake says "start out with something basic and use it for a year or two and see how much you get out of it before making a big investment".
Using yourdata as a guide
Before we dive into smart watch data, it's important to note that these numbers can sometimes be inaccurate, so it's best to use them as a guide, says Dr Peake .
"People need to be aware that wearing a smart watch on your wrist doesn't always provide the best indication of whole-body movement," he says.
Ms Maher adds "the accuracy also varies from model to model and the metrics used."
"They tend to be good for step count but less accurate when it comes to measuring calories burned."
An example of this is yoga: you might be working up a sweat because it's a strenuous activity, but your smart watch may not pick it up because you're in a stable position and not vigorously moving around, Ms Maher says.
Sleep monitoring is another function that has some gaps.
"We know for sleep duration, like bedtime and wake time it's reasonably accurate but for other sleep stages like REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep, it's not good," Ms Maher says.
Setting health and fitness goals
How do you use your data without becoming obsessed or feeling guilty?
Ms Maher says you could try setting realistic goals and use your smart watch to keep you accountable.
"In our research we found it to be a positive tool when it's used on a daily basis because you're aware of how much physical activity you're getting, and hopefully it motivates you to reach your daily goal," she says.
At the same time, Ms Maher says make sure your watch is working for you, not the other way around.
"Watches come with customisable goals which are 'assumed' goals, so if you find they're too much, adjust them down."
"Everyone responds differently to feedback. For one person it can be motivating and others, it can be demotivating, so it's about finding what works for you and turning off notifications if it gets too much," she says.
Sometimes constant notifications can be annoying and reports actually found this was a reason some people stopped using their watch.
If that's you, Dr Peake says, continue to wear your watch but use your data differently.
"Track yourself over time and don't get too bogged down on the day-to-day data," Dr Peake says.
"It's the trends over time, like a weekly or monthly basis, that will provide the most value for people."
Another tip Dr Peake suggests: don't compare yourself to other people.
"The benefit doesn't come from comparing your numbers to some objective goal or family or friends. The real benefit comes from comparing your own data against itself over time," he says.
It's always important to remember, regardless of what your watch says, if you're feeling tired, take that as a cue from your body that it's time to rest.
"You need to find a personal balance between using the data you're getting and balancing that against your own intuition about how you're feeling," Dr Peake says.
"Sleep and knowing when to rest is a really important aspect of our health."
Screen Rant
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is among the best smartwatches to pair with a new Android phone, especially the Galaxy S23 series, but there are a few tips and tricks that could elevate the user experience even further. Out of the box, the device runs on Google's Wear OS, which allows it to download apps via the Play Store.
Even otherwise, the Galaxy Watch 5 comes with all the features that users would expect from a flagship wearable, including seamless connectivity with the companion phone and tracking health-related metrics like blood oxygen levels and body composition. However, there are certain features that users might not know. So here's a quick roundup of features that could change how people use the watch.
Related: Does The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Need A Screen Protector?
8 Reorder The Quick Settings Options
The Galaxy Watch 5 has multiple Quick Settings options that help users perform various tasks, such as adjusting the brightness manually, muting the watch, accessing Wi-Fi, and more. However, many users don't know that they can customize the order in which the Quick Settings options appear.
To rearrange these options, users should swipe from the top of their Galaxy Watch's display, navigate to the last Quick Settings page, and hit the plus sign. This enables the Edit Mode, wherein users can long-press the toggles to drag and place them in the required position. By default, the first Quick Settings page doesn't have the option to enable Theater Mode and Wi-Fi, but users can change their placement with this method.
7 Change The Home Key And Back Key Actions
The Galaxy Watch has two buttons on its right - the home and back keys. While they help users get around the apps and menus on the watch, they also act as customizable shortcuts. Users can change these keys' functions from the Settings app. Just head to 'Advanced features' and select 'Customize keys.'
For the Home key, users get two options. First, users can change what double pressing the home key does, and they can set it to open virtually any of the smartwatch's apps. The second option, which is holding the home key, allows users to summon Bixby or the power off menu. On the other hand, the back key can be set to navigate to the previous screen or show the recent apps section.
6 Customize The Font Size And Style
Most users don't know this, but they can personalize how the font looks across the Galaxy Watch's user interface. All they need to do is open the Settings app, select 'Display,' and scroll down to locate the Font menu. Here, they can change the font style and size. By default, the device has six font styles: SamsungOne, Gothic Bold, Choco Cooky, Cool Jazz, and Rosemary. Then there are four sizes to choose from as well. Samsung also provides an option to bold the text, making it easier for users to read the text on the screen.
5 Close Recent Apps To Save Battery
On its official support page, Samsung advises users to close the apps running in the background as it extends the watch's battery life. To access the recent apps section, swipe up from the bottom of the display to open the app tray and select the Recent Apps icon (the one with two overlapping circles). Here, the watch shows all the active applications on the memory - swipe up on an app's preview to close it or select the 'Close All' option in the extreme left. One can even set the back key shortcut to open the Recent Apps section.
4 Set An Image As A Wallpaper
This is one of the most loved features, and at the same time, a trick as it never fails to amaze other people. To add an image as their watch face, users must open the Galaxy Wearable app on the connected smartphone, choose the 'Watch Faces' option and select 'My Photo+' under 'Basic.'
If it is the first time users set up a custom image as wallpaper, the watch will ask to add pictures from the phone to its memory. Once done, users can select the clock type, clock color, and other details, like the number of steps, heart rate, or battery percentage, that they want to appear on the watch face. Remember that the maximum number of photos that one can add to the My Photos+ collection is 20.
3 Know About All The Different Modes
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 comes with multiple modes, and users can activate them either from the Quick Settings section on the watch or the Galaxy Wearable app. For instance, the Do Not Disturb mode disables all notifications except alarms. Then there's the Bedtime mode which is the same as the DND mode, except that it turns off the always-on display and the 'raise wrist to wake' feature.
The smartwatch also provides a Theater Mode, ensuring that users aren't distracted by incoming notifications, alarms, or screen wake-up gestures. For swimmers who use the smartwatch, it features a water lock mode that prevents unintentional inputs while splashing through a pool. Last but not least, Flight Mode disables an LTE connection on variants that support it. Users can switch between these modes to get the best out of their Galaxy Watch 5.
2 Tweak The Display Settings
Users must have heard about the always-on display feature, but when they get the watch, it's disabled by default. Users can swipe from the top to access the Quick Settings menu and hit the watch icon to enable the feature. Another way to activate the always-on display on the Galaxy Watch 5 is via the 'Display' section in the 'Settings' app.
Another display setting that users should know about is Auto-Brightness. As the name suggests, it uses the ambient light sensor on the smartwatch to adjust the screen's brightness as per the environment. However, if users don't like the feature, they can turn it off by sliding the toggle beside 'Auto Brightness' in the Display settings menu on the watch.
1 Enable Gesture Controls
This is perhaps the coolest feature of the Galaxy Watch 5. Users can enable gesture controls in the 'Advanced Features' section of the Settings app or the 'Watch Settings' menu in the Galaxy Wearable app. Once users turn Gestures on, they can control several aspects of the watch, such as accepting/rejecting an incoming call and opening an app by moving their arm or wrist in a particular manner. The feature comes in handy, especially when users can't access the smartphone connected to the Galaxy Watch 5.
More: Pixel Watch Vs. Galaxy Watch 5: Best Smartwatch For Under $350?
Source: Samsung
