In college, it is difficult to find a medium between maintaining a steady exercise routine and balancing schoolwork. With 40+ hours of class work, rehearsals, practices and RSO meetings, it isn’t always the easiest to fit our grades and well-roundedness and our health together.
I always strive to be healthy and this year it has gotten easier to do so, all because I received a Fitbit Versa 2. I got it for Christmas but didn’t set it up for a few months after the fact, and it has been a game changer. What the Fitbit does is track different aspects of your health for you. It tracks your steps (including floors that you climb), heart rate, calories and sleep automatically. It will give you graphs with trends based on how you perform for the day and the week.
The central aspect of health that the Fitbit tracks is your steps. Nine am to six pm are considered your active hours, and at 50 after each hour, your Fitbit vibrates and shows you how many steps you need to reach the goal of 250 steps. It also vibrates and notifies you when you hit that goal. Your goal for the day is 10,000 steps, and your Fitbit really celebrates if you hit that goal. Even if you are not an athlete, you will see that after a busy day of classes, work, and clubs, all of that walking often does lead to 10,000 steps. I am encouraged to walk more and always take the stairs as a result. The Fitbit also notifies you via app and email if you reach certain badges, which are usually associated with step or floor goals.
That is why I could argue that Fitbit is the most fun “game” app. You are getting notified of real achievements, where the reward is your health. An additional feature that is a favorite of mine is that the watch can track sleep. Not only does the watch sense when you are sleeping, it breaks down your sleep into light sleep, deep sleep, awake, and REM sleep, and then assigns a score as a result. You can see that and a graph of your sleep for the past week using the app.
You can also choose to track other aspects of your health, including food and water intake and mental health on the app, which is available for any device.
The watch itself has many great features that make life that much easier. There are alarms, a stopwatch and timer, which are all great for time management and class assignments. The timer is especially great for cooking and laundry!
You can also load music or use Spotify (with Fitbit Premium, which I do not have) and even check the weather. I love having the weather and timers on my wrist so that I do not always have to reach for my phone.
I also love the “relax” app on the watch. You do a breathing exercise for two minutes, and I personally like to use it to help me fall asleep sometimes. It really works!
I love my Fitbit and it has become an important part of my routine. I am encouraged to find ways to exercise throughout the day and be mindful of my sleep. My Fitbit has taught me that I am doing just fine on health and that little moments each day are worth celebrating.