22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY january 26-february 1, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Issue Health & Fitness 2023 Techno Athlete Health and fitness technology is fun and flashy, but does it work? By Agata Pop˛eda Happy new year. You might still be going hard on your new year’s resolutions (was training for a race, eating better or taking better care of yourself on the list?) or maybe you already let them go. Either way, the Weekly’s annual Health & Fitness issue examines some trends, offers some tips and gives insight into some of the personalities and organizations that are shaping and reshaping the local health and fitness landscape, from how we work out to how we think about our own roles in mental health to how we shop for fruits and vegetables. Resolutions or otherwise, there is never a bad time to get caught up on what local leaders are doing to improve community and individual health and wellness. –Sara Rubin Some people like tech gadgets and some don’t; some seem to possess unlimited energy for working out and others not so much. And then there’s that segment of the population that is both fit and tech-savvy. But for the rest of us, those who are more casually looking to improve our fitness situation—is all this new health technology worth the cost of the device or monthly subscription? The technology used in health and fitness can be divided into two big families—wearable devices (Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, etc.) and platforms or applications typically connected to a social media phenomenon (these range from movement-tracking Strava to calorie counters, such as My Fitness Pal or Noom). Many people use both, but investing in a device is a more substantial financial commitment ($100- $200 for Fitbit devices, $250-$800 for an Apple Watch, or $400-$1,000 for Garmin devices). Fitness applications and platforms have more users than wearable devices because they typically cost less. My Fitness Pal, which has been on the market since 2005, starts free, and premium membership is available for $9.99 a month, or $49.99 for the year. It competes with a younger generation of apps, such as Noom, which aspires to be a weight loss program based on psychology, with lots of verbal incentives (after a free one-week trial, a subscription costs up to $59 a month). While much of this technology is relatively new, it is widespread. Some studies on usage and efficacy have already been conducted. Pew Research Center concluded in 2020 that 1 in 5 U.S. adults say they regularly wear a smartwatch or a fitness tracker. A study from 2020, conducted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and published by the National Library of Medicine, reviewed the effectiveness of wearable trackSweating it out for self defense 8 Keeping track 22 Mental health first aid 24 Hitting the gym 26 Rethinking weight loss 32 Life saver 42 Doctor’s orders: more fruit 44 shutterstock
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