At first thought, it seems obvious that a fitness tracker would help boost your health. It helps you get fitter, right?

Perhaps, but the devices may also reduce your overall wellness by triggering more obsession and less connection with your body.

The research on whether fitness trackers actually make you move more is inconclusive. In the end, it seems to depend on the person. Some people thrive on setting measurable goals and achieving them. Others have a spike of motivation at the beginning, and then get bored. But others can fall into an unhealthy focus on numbers which turns their life into a calculation.

Mark McKeon is an author, presenter and former AFL coach. Speaking in the Australian Financial Review, he says knowing you have only walked 1000 steps by lunchtime might motivate some people, “but it can also make you stressed and set off a series of physiological changes that are more detrimental than an inactive morning.”

When you first set up your tracker, it may ask for your basic details, often telling you how many calories you need to stay the same weight, or lose weight.

For people who are prone to anxiety or disordered thinking about weight and exercise, this can be more detrimental than beneficial. Having a device beep at you because you have only done 9,400 steps that day can turn a good day into a guilt-ridden day.

Alissa Rumsey, author of Unapologetic Eating, says fitness trackers can lead to negative obsession for some people.

“They become fixated on the numbers and kind of preoccupied with tracking and hitting certain numbers and in doing so lose track of what really matters.

They stop paying attention to know their body feels and if they need rest, if they need movement.”

Rumsey suggests mitigating this by regularly checking in with how you feel, and let that guide you.

TIP
Check in with your body BEFORE you check your fitness tracker. Practise listening to your body to see how it feels before and after exercise and move in a way that feels good for you.