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Health Magazine | Smartwatches: a stressful health gadget?

Is my heart beating normally? Am I getting enough sleep? Is my practice of sport sufficient? How many calories have I spent in the last few hours? Have I reached the 10,000 daily steps?

Connected watches provide us with just about all the health data we need to ensure our healthy lifestyle. Or change our habits in this direction.

Danish researchers (University of Copenhagen) have evaluated the impact of this permanent data on our feelings.

Focus on the FitBit connected watch with 27 users aged 28 to 74. According to the lead author of the study, Pr Tariq Osman Andersen, “these data prompted them to do more sport for 6 months, and to become aware of abnormal symptoms”.

But the users also experienced “more anxiety”, because of this overdose of information. The problem lies in the use of this data.

“Users cannot necessarily interpret the data and tend not to consult doctors if they have concerns. ”

In case of cardiovascular disease

To go further, Prof. Andersen’s team conducted 66 interviews with patients with cardiac arrhythmias and pacemakers, all of them owners of the FitBit watch.

On the positive side, “patients say they are more connected to their disease, soothed when the sleep and physical activity indicators are good”.

On the other hand, “the latter say they are extremely anxious at the slightest exacerbation of symptoms, change in heart rate and they quickly fear a myocardial infarction”.

The downside, this watch is suitable for sports and fitness, not the profiles of patients with cardiovascular diseases.

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