From Bands to Watches to Rings, 8 Great Fitness Trackers for Women
Ready to take your workouts and fitness goals to the next level? Thought so! That may mean it’s time to invest in a fitness tracker. These devices will give you the ability to dive deeper into your workouts, both in real time and post-sweat, to see things like heart rate, calories burned, pace, distance and more. These numbers will help you better understand the work you’re putting in day in and day out, leading to better results. RELATED: The Best Sleep Trackers to Help You (Finally!) Rest Better What to Look for in a Fitness Tracker When spending major money on a tracker, it’s important that you get one that suits your needs (and workouts). “Ask yourself what range of activities you’ll be using your tracker for,” says Chelsey Wilkens, NASM-certified personal trainer and nutritionist in New York City. “Are you going to sleep, run, swim, lift and do yoga in it?” Whatever your level of activity, it’s important your watch or band can track these activities. If you want to be able to see your running or hiking routes post-exercise, too, you’ll want your tracker to have GPS mapping. Some watches even come with apps that allow you to track your menstrual cycle. “What our bodies go through—whether it’s stress, travel or menstruation—affects how we bring ourselves back into balance,” explains Wilkens. RELATED: How to Track Your Period for Energy, Happiness, and Productivity Don’t Forget Style and Comfort! Once you’ve found the features you’re looking for, then you need to match the tracker to your style. You’ll be wearing it daily, after all! Do you want a smartwatch or just a tracker band? There are leather, cloth, and rubber options for your wrist, too. “I like something comfortable and discreet,” explains Wilkens. “I prefer a cloth band, as it’s more comfortable to sleep in, and a tracker without a watch face, so I don’t have to worry about it lighting up in the middle of class or accidentally dropping a weight on it.” Within this wide range of features and styles, we found some of the best fitness trackers for women. Which one fits all of your needs? (Image: Shutterstock) Garmin Vivomove HR Sport If the color combos don’t grab your attention, the other features will. The face looks like your typical analog watch, but when paired with a smartphone, the background lights up with notifications, including text messages, incoming calls, and appointment reminders. (You can even get a playful “Let’s get coffee!” suggestion.) The touch screen also allows you to monitor steps, calories burned, distance, heart rate, intensity, and even your VO2 max while exercising. $166 (onyx with suede), $223 (rose with white gold), amazon.com (Image: Amazon) Fitbit Inspire 2 If you’re looking for a lower profile tracker that doesn’t resemble a watch, try this small and subtle model from Fitbit. An entry-level fitness tracker (which explains the relatively inexpensive price), it tracks your exercise sessions and heart rate, plus monitors your breathing patterns while sleeping, all for under $100. And while many trackers boast about long battery life, independent reviews confirm that the Inspire 2 actually has it—the longest battery life of any Fitbit device, up to 10 days on one charge! $99.95, fitbit.com (Image: Fitbit) Samsung Galaxy Watch Active This tracker is water-resistant up to 50 meters, so you shouldn’t have to worry about swimming, showering, or getting caught in the rain with this baby. It pairs via Bluetooth with Android and iOS smartphones, so it’s easy to keep tabs on your overall fitness and eating habits. Bonus: It analyzes sleep patterns too. $120-$329 (price varies by color), amazon.com (Image: Amazon) Garmin Vivosmart 4 Activity and Fitness Tracker For just under $100, you can own this extremely slim, all-day activity tracker that tracks your steps, total calories burned, VO2 max (maximal oxygen consumption) and stress levels. It also knows when you fall asleep and measures your REM sleep. $99, amazon.com (Image: Amazon) Suunto 3 Fitness Tracker Sports Watch Waterproof up to 30 meters, this sports watch from Finland-based Suunto is made to be worn 24/7, so you can track your activity all day, every day. You can also create customized training plans to follow, which is extremely helpful if you’re training for a race. $162-$240 (price varies by color), amazon.com (Image: Amazon) Apple Watch SE Apple’s high-functioning midline watch pairs with the Health app to do a lot of things, including measuring current heart rate and detecting anything unusual (rhythm too high, low or irregular). You can also track your menstrual cycle. Meanwhile, once you pair the Apple Watch SE with your smartphone, you can make and receive calls and texts on your wrist. The watch’s auto-pause feature works great if you’re running in a city and have to stop for traffic lights—it knows when you’re not running, when you start again, and tracks your run accordingly. Ready to splurge? The newest model, Series 7, boasts a larger screen, plus the ability to measure blood-oxygen level and take an ECG. (The 7 starts at $399.) $279, apple.com (Image: Apple) Polar Ignite Choose from five different colorways, ranging from classic black and silver (or black and copper) to bold yellow to pink and rose. The watch automatically tracks your sleep at night, then provides a full analysis the following day, along with workout suggestions based on how much recovery you need. Did we mention that it has a built-in GPS, too? $165-$220 (price varies by color), amazon.com (Image: Amazon) Oura Ring Generation 3 Here’s a twist: Instead of using a watch or fitness band, what if you could attain all of the same health data by wearing a ring? With multiple tiny sensors inside it, the popular Oura Ring works as a fitness tracker (compatible with the Apple Health and Google Fit apps), period predictor (using your temperature and other data to analyze your cycle), sleep tracker and more. Lots of people, athletes in particular, find a ring more comfortable to wear than a band; NBA and WNBA players are among those wearing them. On the other hand, not all
Sweet Dreams! 7 Great Sleep Trackers for 2022
Why is it that sleep is the first thing to go when we’re feeling stressed? We work late, we put out any fires at home, we go to bed exhausted—then we toss, turn and wake up in the middle of the night, or can’t fall asleep at all. Ugh! The worst. It’s no surprise that low-quality sleep actually sucks on a scientific level, not just a personal one. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, sleep affects not only your physical health, but also your mental health and quality of life. There’s even a safety factor to sleeping well: People are more likely to get into car accidents when they’re tired. RELATED: Will a Weighted Blanket Improve Your Sleep? “Sleep Deep” is one of Nutritious Life’s pillars for a reason! High-quality slumber is a crucial component of health and happiness. While you probably know that you need between seven and eight hours of sleep each night, how do you really know you’re hitting those numbers? And even if you’re indeed getting enough shut-eye, are you getting enough deep sleep? That’s where a sleep tracker comes in handy. “Trackers work,” says Michael Breus, Ph.D., board-certified sleep specialist, American Academy of Sleep Medicine fellow, and author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health. “But,” he adds, “it’s important to track the relative data, not just the absolute data.” In other words: Pay attention to any changes in your sleep patterns over time to see if something’s up with your lifestyle or overall health. One number in isolation isn’t as helpful. RELATED: Do Blue-Light Glasses Really Work? These sleep trackers help you do just that. Some even offer tips to help you improve aspects of your sleep—so you can log peaceful and recharging ZZZs night after night. (Image: Shutterstock) The Best Sleep Trackers Best for Pre-Menopausal Women: Fitbit Surge You don’t need to tell this tracker that you’re tucking in for the night—it detects slumber automatically, thanks to a built-in heart-rate monitor. It also allows for feminine cycle tracking, so you can pick up on any patterns over the course of the month. (Anyone else sleep like garbage during their period? Condolences.) This baby is so much more than a sleep tracker, though: You can also keep tabs on your runs in real-time with metrics such as pace, distance, and even elevation displayed right on the face, then get detailed workout summaries when you’re done. $199.95, nutritiouslife.com Best No-Fuss Tracker: Withings Sleep Tracking Pad (Image: Amazon) This option is perfect for people who like to limit the tech in their bedroom. Simply place this pad under your mattress, and—voila!—your work is done. As you rest, the pad tracks your heart rate, snoring, and any disturbances, then records the info in its app. From there, you’ll receive a daily sleep score that’s broken down into metrics like sleep duration, sleep depth, the amount of time it took to fall asleep, and overall sleep schedule. Pretty cool, right? $79.99, amazon.com Best Budget Buy: Amazfit Band 5 (Image: Amazon) If you’re looking for a fitness and sleep tracker that won’t break a budget, here’s a great option. It does the basics, like monitoring heart rate and measuring blood-oxygen levels, but it also assesses the quality of different sleep stages, whether you’re tucked in for the night or just taking a quick catnap. It’s also waterproof and Alexa-compatible. And, with more than 10,000 customer ratings on Amazon, it achieves 4.2 out of 5 stars. $35, amazon.com Best Ring: Wellue O2Ring Pulse Oximeter (Image: Amazon) Worn around your thumb, this ring will continuously monitor your heart rate and oxygen levels while you rest. But don’t keep the data to yourself: Connect it to the app to share your numbers with your docs. $180, amazon.com Best for Morning Haters: Fitbit Charge 5 (Image: Fitbit) The Fitbit Charge 5 tracks all your typical sleep info, but with one important bonus for alarm haters: a gentle vibrating alarm that helps you start your morning feeling calm, instead of frazzled. Just set a time range and it will wake you up during your lightest sleep, not in the middle of that Ryan Gosling dream. (FYI: You’ll get the same cycle tracking as in the FitBit Surge.) $130, fitbit.com Best for Runners: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 (Image: Amazon) Want immediate feedback during your run? This popular smartwatch comes with built-in pace coaching, so you’ll know when you need to speed up or slow down without having to glance down at your wrist. It also alerts you if your heart rate is too high or too low, and even has a calming app that offers meditation sessions and breathing exercises when you need them most (stupid deadlines!). Of course, it also tracks how much you sleep and offers insights to get better rest. With more than 46,000 customer ratings on Amazon, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch scores a whopping 4.7 out of 5 stars, so it must be doing a lot right. $243, amazon.com Best Advice: SleepScore Max Sleep Tracking Device (Image: Amazon) Set this device up next to your bed to track your sleep patterns and monitor your bedroom for things like light and sound. The result: a full sleep analysis. Using the app, you can look through the data, check out your sleep score, and learn how to improve your sleep tomorrow night. $150, amazon.com
