While our forebears depended on their senses to evaluate their well-being, we are increasingly turning to technology.
Nowadays, if you’re inquisitive enough, you can assess your heart rate, step count, workout intensity, and sleep quality—often all from a single sleek gadget.
In the best scenarios, these devices create a link between your personal sensations and what can be objectively quantified.
This is typically a really fascinating and impressive phenomenon.
Our personal feelings and evaluations are significant, yet they aren’t always the most trustworthy. Humans simply struggle to precisely quantify our experiences and actions.
Consider a colleague of mine, for instance. He thought he was consuming calories within a tight range, but after meticulous tracking, he discovered he was actually adding an extra 500 Calories daily—in barbecue sauce.
Nonetheless, some individuals excel in this area more than others.
Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter, was said to have been capable of predicting his 100-meter time within a tenth of a second from the stopwatch reading.1
That’s exceptional performance, for sure, but it raises a question:
How skilled are you at self-assessment?
And, how can you enhance your precision through the smart use of technology—such as fitness trackers—to aid in making more informed health decisions?
In the upcoming article, we will explore this topic, and additionally discuss:
- How reliable are data trackers to begin with?
- When is tracking beneficial? (And when is it ineffective?)
- Can you train yourself to assess things by intuition more accurately?
Let’s dive in.
First, just how reliable are data trackers?
Not all data holds the same value.
Some brands provide superior products compared to others. This encompasses not only hardware but also the quality of their software and datasets.
Moreover, not all metrics are equally simple to quantify.
For instance, heart rate and step-count data are generally dependable,2 but various other outputs—from calories burned to movement velocity—can have significant margins of error.
The chart below illustrates the reliability of different tracking devices.
(If you’re interested, we examine the accuracy of different progress indicators in more depth here: Are Fitness Trackers Worth It?)
Next, when is tracking truly advantageous?
The positive: Tracking devices provide us with more insights about our behaviors and bodies than ever before.
The negative: Tracking devices provide us with more insights about our behaviors and bodies than ever before.
“What’s genuinely remarkable,” notes Samantha Kleinberg, a computer scientist who investigates decision-making, “is that even a small amount of extra information can significantly hinder our decision-making.”3
This represents the tracking paradox: Insufficient detail complicates right decision-making, but so does an excess.
This can be visualized as an inverted U, with the ideal point at the peak of the curve.
Today, it’s unexpectedly easy to have an overload of information.
Think about the analysis paralysis you experience after reviewing countless evaluations from the various taco spots nearby. (All you wanted was a decent el pastor, but now you can’t decide which taqueria to choose!)
Finding the right amount of information to make informed decisions is an art—especially in the health and fitness realm, where it seems everybody is competing to present more science, more personalization, and more intricacy.
However, when all that information starts to merge without a clear direction, what should you do?
To start, you might pose yourself a straightforward question:
Does tracking enhance my well-being and performance?
If the response is a definite yes or no, you know how to proceed. (Either keep tracking as you have been or set the gadget aside and step away.)