How we can be healthier with wearables
When I started using a pedometer in 2002, I was already aiming for 10,000 steps a day. Later, I used a chest-strap heart rate monitor to guide my running workouts and tracked estimated calories burned to help coach my weight-management clients. Today, after decades in fitness and navigating midlife, I’m just as interested in what happens beyond exercise. How well do I sleep, manage stress, and recover?
Wearable technology has come a long way since I started counting steps. In the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) 2027 Worldwide Fitness Trends report, released on Oct. 20, wearable technology once again took the No. 1 spot for the 10th time since 2016.
Wearables, including smartwatches and fitness trackers, are part of digital health, which uses technology to monitor and support our health.
With all the information wearables provide, are we really becoming healthier? That was one question I explored at the Garmin Health Summit 2026 in Bangkok on Oct. 28 and 29. First held in Berlin in 2018, the summit has since visited Rome, Singapore, Prague, and New York. This year’s gathering brought together more than 200 experts and industry leaders to discuss wearable technology, from everyday wellness to healthcare and healthy aging.
Beyond fitness: Why wearable technology continues to lead
In a one-on-one interview, I asked Scoppen Lin, assistant general manager of Garmin Asia, how Filipinos use wearables beyond fitness. He shared that the Philippines is among Garmin’s strongest markets in Southeast Asia this year, driven largely by running and cycling, and emphasized how these activities support overall health.
But wearables are no longer just about sports performance. At the summit, Susan Lyman, Garmin’s vice president of consumer sales and marketing, discussed how these devices now help us monitor everyday health, including sleep, stress, and recovery.
Wearable technology is also entering healthcare. Through remote patient monitoring, doctors can review selected health measurements while patients are at home, helping them notice changes between appointments.
What can wearables tell us about happiness and stress?
Jörn Watzke, senior director of Garmin Health Global Sales, shared preliminary findings from the Health and Happiness Study involving researchers from Harvard and Oxford universities. Participants reported feeling happier on days they were more active than usual while longer sleep was associated with feeling more relaxed.
Professor Francesco Pagnini of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan shared another interesting insight about the mind-body connection. In a study involving 36 sailors who spent a month at sea, wearable data reflected changes in their workload and sleep, revealing physical signs of stress that they might not have noticed themselves.
This reminded me of my column about mental health last month. We may think we’re feeling fine, but unusually high smartwatch stress readings might make us ask, “Am I really okay?” Have I been getting enough rest? Am I pushing myself too hard?”
While wearable stress readings don’t directly measure emotional stress, they can remind us to pay closer attention to our physical and mental well-being.
Can fitness measurements reveal clues about longevity?
Scott Burgett, senior director of Garmin Health Engineering, discussed how two familiar fitness measurements, VO2 max and resting heart rate, can offer clues about long-term health. VO2 max measures the maximum amount of oxygen our bodies can use during intense exercise. Research has linked better cardiovascular fitness with a lower risk of premature death, while higher resting heart rates have been associated with greater mortality risk.
Compatible Garmin devices estimate VO2 max and track resting heart rate, helping us follow our fitness over time. An improving VO2 max estimate can be encouraging, while resting heart rate trends may offer clues about our health and recovery.
But you don’t have to be an elite athlete to benefit. Regular activities such as brisk walking, running, or cycling can improve cardiovascular fitness, helping us stay healthy and active as we age.
How can wearables help us navigate midlife?
During a summit panel on lifespan and healthspan, Georgie Drury, co-founder and CEO of Metluma, emphasized that perimenopause isn’t just about managing symptoms. It’s also an opportunity to focus on long-term health through better lifestyle habits, preventive care, and attention to cardiovascular and bone health.
Her message reminded me of my own midlife experience. When I started using a Garmin smartwatch in 2022, I became more aware of how my daily habits affected my sleep, stress, and recovery.
I’ve noticed that eating late or having heavy dinners that can increase blood sugar sometimes coincides with higher heart rate and stress readings at night, along with poorer sleep. This encouraged me to eat earlier and become more mindful of what I eat.
I use my wearable to track my menstrual cycle and check its regularity, especially now that I’m in midlife. Then, I compare the readings with how I feel, including changes in my sleep and stress. It can’t measure my hormones, but it helps me notice patterns I might have missed.
I’ve learned that staying fit in midlife isn’t always about exercising harder or longer. It’s about finding the right balance between staying active and giving our bodies time to recover.
Are we becoming healthier or just collecting more numbers?
Dr. Sangita Reddy, joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals, reminded us that we have 8,760 hours in a year but spend only a small fraction of that time with healthcare professionals. How we move, eat, sleep, and manage stress during the remaining hours can significantly influence our health. She discussed how wearables and artificial intelligence could support more continuous, personalized, and preventive healthcare.
But with all this information available, what are we actually doing with it?
Watzke described lifestyle as a kind of “super pill,” emphasizing the importance of our daily habits.
He highlighted research suggesting that walking at least 5,000 steps three times weekly for two years could contribute to longer life expectancy. More strikingly, consistently achieving 10,000 steps at least five times weekly for three years was associated with a 57 percent lower relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The findings don’t prove that walking alone led to these benefits, but they give us another good reason to keep moving.
Our health numbers are just the starting point. If we’re falling short of our step goals, we can find ways to move more. If our stress readings are unusually high, we can slow down and make more room for rest.
As a health coach, I’ve always believed that awareness is power, but action matters most. We need to take an active role in our health and ask for support when we need it to make lasting changes.
And the ultimate purpose of digital health isn’t to give us better numbers, but to help us live better lives.
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