Best Fitness Trackers for Blood Pressure
Fitness trackers are devices that can measure your heartrate, number of steps walked or number of calories burnt. These fitness trackers have lots of sensors and software components all in one package that help us measure our daily activities with ease without having to purchase separate equipment for different tasks.
Fitness trackers have become an inevitable piece of equipment for fitness enthusiasts or even for those people who want to keep track of their daily habits to change them for better.
Tracking daily activities like the number of steps, average heart rate, idle hours or tracking the sleep quality provides useful data to keep ourself aware of our activity and helps us to take a step in the right direction.
Fitness trackers are essential for people with medical conditions which helps them to take a glance on their medical stats without having to consult them with a doctor.
Blood pressure is one of those aspects of health that a lot of people need to keep track of and fitness trackers like Fitbits help us in doing so without having to consult doctors unless the condition is serious which can be tracked via the fitness trackers.
Some trackers have ECG with FDA which is an added bonus for the reliability.
Contents
Best Fitness Trackers for Blood Pressure:
Fitbit Sense:
Fitbit sense is one of the best choices for fitness trackers be it for fitness enthusiast’s or for an average consumer. This is the first fitness tracker from Fitbit than can measure ECG and it does it pretty well.
The sense comes with a host of other sensors which could even measure body skin temperature and your stress levels throughout the day. Fitbit ECG has also received FDA clearance which is a bonus for the reliability.
It also has an app for both android and iOS to monitor the stats in detail such as heart rate, number of steps taken and it also comes with 6 months free trial of Fitbit premium if that’s something you are looking out for.
Battery life is quoted for around 6 days which is not representative of real-world use case. With normal use the battery life is around 1 to 1 and a half days of battery life and the charging is also pretty quick so battery life should not be that big of an issue.
This is a very good choice for the Android users out there but for iOS users it’s a tough recommendation unless you need specific features like the skin temperature and stress monitoring.
Apple Watch Series 6:
Apple watch series 6 is literally the best fitness tracker around but best does not mean perfect.
The Apple watch series 6 is best suited for the people using iPhones as apple watches only work with iPhones.
It has variety of sensors ranging from SPO2 sensor to measure blood oxygen levels to ECG measuring sensors with dedicated app support and it is also FDA approved. There is also fall detection which automatically calls emergency numbers if you had a hard fall.
There are a lot of additional things that can be done like replying to messages that can done when connected to iPhone.
The Battery life is average as it needs to be charged every other day and the charging time is also pretty long.
All things aside this is the best fitness tracker/ smartwatch available for the iPhone.
Apple Watch Series 5:
Apple watch series 5 is pretty much the same as the series 6 with just one feature missing.
Sure, if you want the devices that are up to date you can go for the series 6 but for the most users the series 5 is the way to go.
The only major difference from series 6 to series 5 is that the latter does not come with a SPO2 blood oxygen sensor which not everyone cares about and there are small details like slightly less bright screen and stuff but nothing major.
Most importantly you can save a significant amount of money by buying the previous generation product and during sales it would be a great choice for anyone looking at the series 6.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3
If Apple watch is to the iOS then galaxy watch 3 is to the Android especially for Samsung devices.
Galaxy Watch is the best fitness tracker/ smartwatch for android users out there.
It has every feature you need including sleep tracking and extensive exercise tracking and has a satisfying rotating bezel around the screen to navigate the User Interface and the ECG has been approved by the US government.
With the cellular version, you can make and take calls without the assistance of your smartphone. The Samsung health app provides extensive data that has been recorded by the watch.
There is also Samsung pay which is an underrated feature that is very helpful and if you happen to have a Samsung phone you could potentially match the color of the phone with the color of the watch.
Battery life is also average like the apple watch but this supports Qi wireless charging.
If you don’t mind paying a premium for a fitness tracker this is subjectively the best non-apple fitness tracker available in the market.
Samsung Watch Active 2
The Galaxy watch active 2 is a cheaper and less feature packed version of the its bigger brother Galaxy watch 3.
Active 2 also has ECG and sleep tracking but misses out on features like rotating bezel instead it has a touch-sensitive bezel that can be used for navigating around the UI.
There are multiple sizes and colors you can choose from. The display is also the same as the Galaxy watch 3.
Not a lot of corners are cut when compared to its bigger brother the watch 3 and the features it offers should suffice most of the people.
The battery life is better than the Galaxy watch 3 as this has power-hungry components and the charging is also convenient.
For someone new to the market and looking to get a decent smartwatch/fitness tracker and does not want to spend a fortune the watch active 2 from Samsung is a great option.
A Buyer’s Guide to Fitness Trackers with blood pressure monitors
The Difference between a smartwatch and a fitness tracker:
These days there is pretty much no distinction between smartwatches and fitness trackers. Fitness has become a subset of smartwatches.
There are a variety of sensors like heart rate sensor, infrared light sensors, and gyroscope that perform various algorithms to provide different data measures of your daily activities ranging from heart rate, steps taken, and ECG.
No fitness trackers are available by themselves with all the features you could need. Buying dedicated devices for tracking is just better but one cannot carry around all of the trackers with them.
With the fitness-oriented smartwatches, you get all in one package that does all sorts of fitness tracking with a negligible margin of error.
Display:
There are different display types used in a fitness tracker/smartwatch. Most notably OLED and LCD display. The better choice would be choosing an OLED display as it provides better contrast, colors and brightness.
Most importantly it draws less power and provides always-on display which is very important to take a look at a glance.
Material:
Different trackers are built different. There are plastic built trackers and some are built with metal like aluminum and even expensive materials like titanium and ceramic.
Premium materials like ceramic and titanium cost lot more than aluminum so make sure that you choose the right material for your own tracker/watch.
ECG and Blood Pressure
ECG and Blood pressure are closely related. You can accurately measure the blood pressure only with dedicated medical equipment.
Smartwatches with ECG work in a similar way such that when there is a sudden spike in ECG it is caused by the increase in blood pressure or some heart irregularities.
This could be lifesaving in some situations especially for people who have preexisting medical conditions.
Just make sure that the ECG used in the watch you are looking for is FDA approved.
Battery Life:
Battery life is the most important aspect of a fitness tracker or smart watch as it is worn all day long and you don’t want it to fail on you in the middle of the day.
Most of the trackers provide around one to one and a half days of battery life.
Some trackers have terrible battery life though. I suggest you to stay away from the trackers that have bad battery life.
If the tracker has Qi wireless charging it is also an added advantage as most of the phones today support reverse wireless charging and you can charge your watch on the go without having to carry an extra charging cable.
Design:
Design is subjective and people might or might not want to customize their wearables but for people who need them there are lots of design choices to customize the trackers to the way you need them.
The straps can be changed for different looks and feels or the watches themselves can be bought with different materials and colors to express your own style.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should you buy fitness trackers?
Fitness trackers help you to track your daily activities such as number of steps, now of hours sitting and exercise tracking.
The data recorded by fitness trackers can be used to help you motivate towards your fitness goals or track your medical stats such as heart rate or ECG throughout the day which can be used for consulting with doctor if there are any irregularities observed.
What is the use of ECG/Blood pressure?
ECG observes the heart rate regularly and detects the sudden spikes or dips caused due to the change in blood pressure.
If an irregular trend is observed that is concerning the ECG data can be consulted with the doctor for further proceedings.
Is ECG used in watches medical grade?
No, the ECG readings that are tracked by the watches should be taken with a grain of salt as they are not medical grade equipment’s even though they are approved by the FDA.
No self-conclusions should be made with the ECG readings on the trackers without consulting the doctor.
There are cases where ECG in watches have saved people lives which are quite rare but it is better to consult with a medical professional.
Do apple watches work with android phones?
This question gets asked around a lot and the answer to the question is no.
Apple watches are meant to be specifically connected with an apple iPhone and cannot be connected with any android phone.
Are fitness trackers and smartwatches the same?
High-end smartwatches have basically become fitness trackers. There are basic fitness trackers without smartwatch functionality.
But to get features like ECG and more advanced stuff you should jump to smartwatches as they come with the fleet of sensors required for tracking ECG and more accurate heart rate.
