How Do Fitness Trackers Track Steps, Stairs, Stress And Calories

Here I will try to answer common questions like how do fitness trackers track steps, stairs, stress and calculate calories?

With the evolvement and advancement in science and technology, many gadgets were designed and invented to help you carry out your usual functions and monitor a large number of things.

In such things, human health plays a great role. Being able to control and monitor your fitness factors is something people go after. A gadget for such monitoring is the smart Fitness Tracker.

Here is a related article that might interest you on the Best 10 Fitness Trackers For Nike App [ Updated 2023 ].

Fitness trackers have been a handy wearable since its existence. Monitoring and controlling your health and fitness activities has become extremely easy with these fitness and activity trackers. The idea of a device watching over your steps and calories is quite fascinating.

Whatsoever, it is not a magical device. To make you believe the former statement, we can explain how this fitness tracker works. These hi-tech devices have integrated sensors for tracking and calculating data regarding your health and fitness.

Fitness Trackers: How Do They Track Steps, Stairs, Stress And Calculate Calories?

It is a wearable device that can calculate some fitness units for you including steps walked, calorie intake, heartbeat rate, etc.

It helps to monitor your health by syncing to your smartphone or computer. They are widely popular with the name of smart bands nowadays. You can also share this data with your doctor to allow him to keep track of your health and fitness.

It is not only lightweight but also looks attractive on your wrist. These handy devices estimate your fitness figures quite accurately.

How Does A Fitness Tracker Track Your Steps?

It is something we often ponder upon. The magic behind these smart fitness trackers is simple science.

The fitness trackers are the product of the amalgamation of some sensors and algorithm. The combination of sensors and algorithms are the core to make it count your every step. The sensors are designed to measure your movement, rotation, direction, and altitude.

These sensors help collect this data from your movement and hence with the help of algorithms it is assembled to track the steps you have taken.

Conclusively, it is a combination of the sensory signals of your movements which are put together to display the data about your steps.

The sensors come in the shape of an Altimeter and some fitness trackers have a Barometer too.

How accurate are they in tracking stairs climbed and which one is best? I have a related article on this website that covers up this topic.

How Does A Fitness Tracker Calculate Your Flight Of Stairs?

Okay, this one really sounds surreal. As a device, which can know when you are climbing up the stairs, sounds magical for sure.

Well, as we said, fitness trackers contain the altitude sensors too. The altimeter sensor helps to track the altitude of your legs while climbing the stairs and hence the tracker knows you are climbing stairs.

Also, when you take a step on a stair, the air pressure changes. It is also sensed by a sensor. Together, these two sensed measurements conclude in your flight of stairs that you are taking.

Hence, your tracker is able to differentiate when you are simply walking or taking stairs. It can even track the number of stairs you climbed. Some fitness trackers come with a built-in GPS and altimeter and some use the phone’s GPS.

How Does A Fitness Tracker Measure Stress?

This one sounds the most fascinating, but it is the outcome of your body’s science. Managing and monitoring your stress has become so simple with the fitness trackers watching our backs.

The heart rate monitors in the tracker and the algorithms work together to calculate your body’s stress level. Our body efficiently secretes different hormones in different situations. Similarly, when you are going through physical stress or tension, your nervous system gives way to an adrenaline rush.

As a response to this hormonal secretion, our heart rate, muscle tension, and breathing pattern changes. All of this is what we name as stress. These figures can be easily measured by a fitness tracker. Which concludes in a stress monitor for you.

Diabetic patients can make a lot of it. Also, the heart rate monitor is a great source of help for heart patients. Anxiety and stress problems are now easy to tackle.

How Does A Fitness Tracker Calculate Your Calories Burn?

Well, for all the overweight and obese people out there, this feature of the fitness trackers is a blessing in disguise.

It is no joke that fitness trackers can keep a count on your calories. Your body metabolism being tracked by a device is quite an absurd-sounding phenomena. But it actually is true.

Your calories burned per day can be calculated by the fitness trackers easily. As we know, these devices have movement sensors.

These movement sensors, combined with other sensors, helps to measure your calorie rate with the help of your physical workout throughout the day.

It is also based on information about your height, weight, age, and gender. The calorie rate changes at midnight in most trackers.

Burning off your calories has become quite easy with the help of these smart fitness trackers. Overweight and obese people can make a lot out of this feature.

Cons of a Fitness Tracker:

Well, there are so many advantages to this health tracking gadget.

1. Social accountability :

Many of the trackers allow the users to post their fitness metrics on social platforms. These help you to challenge your friends or simply getting some motivation for your physical activity.

One thing that these trackers make crystal clear is that you solely are responsible for your health and fitness.

Being lazy about it or avoiding it does not work. These trackers play a great role in helping you know about your health condition.

2. A Motivational Push :

These fitness trackers are a source of motivation for many. As these gadgets provide the complete figures of the steps you have taken or the calories you burned, which alone can give some numeric motivation.

You will gradually want to increase your physical workout day by day. Some trackers even remind you to take a walk or to exercise when you have not been active in a while. Your progress is directly proportional to your fitness.

3. Setting up goals :

Theoretically working on your fitness, and actually keeping an eye on it are two different things. Fitness trackers work to help us keep a record of our physical activities. But the list does not end here.

It is a device that can help you set up goals for your everyday workout plan. Setting a goal is a means of motivation.

One would want to work hard to achieve these goals every day. Whether you need a weight loss plan, or you want to get ready for a marathon, you can set a goal for each of these to work accordingly and striving towards achievement.

3. Enhanced Sleep Schedule :

Your hectic routine makes it impossible for you to keep track of your sleeping hours. Sleep affects your body metabolism, health, as well as other aspects of your life. Well, fitness trackers solved these too.

The sensors present in the tracker can help track your sleep and the different patterns of sleep.

This way, your sleep schedule gets monitored and tracked. Apart from tracking your sleeping hours, it can easily track the quality of your sleep by too.

4. Heart rate :

Keeping track of your heart rate is quite important. As, in traumatic and shocking scenarios, your heart rate may increase rapidly and may give rise to a heart attack.

But fitness trackers help you to watch over your heart-beat rate and warn you in case it gets too high.

5. Easy Accessory :

It really is an easy accessory which you can easily wear daily. The designers have worked hard to give these smart wrist band trackers an elegant look.

So that you would like to wear it with any outfit of yours, anywhere at all times. Not to forget the functionality it offers.

Conclusion

This popular and handy gadget is an outcome of hi-tech design, integrated sensors, and algorithms that work together to keep a close watch over every movement and functionality of your body.

It is not only the tool for health-conscious personnel but also for normal people to help them observe their health and fitness condition side by side.

These smart bands in your wrist contribute a great part to give a person an idea about his activity rate and physical movements. The estimation that these trackers give in the form of calculations is approximately accurate most of the times.

Inactivity is a curse, and these fitness trackers simply help to eliminate the inactivity factor from your lives and to help you work on the initiative of a physically active and fit lifestyle. Possessing so many features, these fitness trackers can be your key to a healthy life.

I hope that this article helped you to understand a bit better how do fitness trackers track steps, stairs, stress and calculate calories.

If you are interested in how do fitness trackers are able to detect sleep patterns than here is an article that you got to read!