Probably some of the most popular search items during January are “how to lose weight”, “how to become healthier”, and other permutations of this topic. Google Fit would like remind you that they have tools designed to help you in the long run and not just during the first month of the new year. The Medical Lead of Google Fit, Kapil Parakh, shared four tips that users can take advantage of in the app and any connected device they may have.
While some apps and devices have probably made steps or calories burned as their main metric to track, Google Fit has come up with Heart Points. They based it on the recommendation of the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization that we get at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week. With Heart Points, you get one point for each minute of moderately intense activity like brisk walking and then double points for the more intense ones like running or biking.
If you see people on your social media feed sharing their workout achievements, don’t immediately conclude that they’re boasting about how fit they are. Sometimes, it’s easier to continue with your routines and your goals if you’re accountable to someone. Google Fit has revamped its social sharing features to make it easier to share what activity you’re doing or you’ve finished directly from your journal. Sometimes the obligatory selfie or nature pic is needed.
Google Fit is able to track more than 100 various activities because movements and workouts can vary from one person to another. More importantly, you can connect supported fitness tracking apps like Mi Fit, Strava, Huawei Health, Nike Training Club, etc, so you can still get those Hearth Points for all of the activities that you do and track through any of those apps. Having everything in just one place can also be helpful.
Lastly, rest and sleep are important parts of staying healthy. There are several sleep apps and devices that have sleep features in them and some can connect with Google Fit so you have all your sleep data in just one place. You can also try out meditation and mindfulness practices, which Wear OS devices have as well and you can of course connect them to Google Fit.