A Smart Way to ‘Watch’ Your Heart Rate: It's a Key to Your Well-Being

Set goals and check out fitness apps

Most smartwatches will allow you to set fitness goals. You can also download apps on your smartphone like Nike Training Club or Fitbod to help you set up specific exercise schedules.

Or take it a step further by downloading apps to track your calories, such as Lose It! or Yazio calorie counters. The MyFitnessPal app even lets you scan an image of your food to give you a nutritional breakdown.

If you don’t want to invest in a smartwatch, get a dedicated heart-rate monitor, such as one from Polar, 4iiii or CooSpo. These devices, which sit on a soft band you can wear around your waist or wrist, sync to a smartphone app. Or try MindMics, a set of noise-canceling, wireless earbuds that track your heart through the low-frequency sounds inside your ears.

The pedometer: A low-tech device that still works

“Old-school pedometers are still great devices for telling the steps taken daily,” says Meredith Chen, a certified fitness trainer and founder of Senior Fitness With Meredith.

She suggests the 3DFitBud to her clients, a simple stand-alone device that doesn’t require a smartphone to operate. Similar devices include the iGANK Simple Walking Pedometer and Realalt’s 3DTriSport.

How many steps? Starting out, aim for 3,000 to 5,000 a day. Then work up to 10,000 a day.

What happens to the data your smartwatch tracks?

“The biggest widespread risk is that the data people think is private on these devices — heart rate, menstrual cycle information, location — gets used for something they don’t expect,” says Thorin Klosowski, a security and privacy activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. That might include targeted advertising or even public data leaks.

Klosowski’s recommendations:

Set up a strong, unique password for each device to lower the risk of the wrong person accessing it.

Limit your smartwatch shopping to brands you’ve heard of.

“These sorts of larger companies tend to have more eyes on them and therefore tend to have better accountability if something does go wrong,” he says. “If it’s a cheap, no-name brand or a start-up, there’s also just the more concrete risk of them not existing in a couple years and thus no longer offering support, which can mean no more security updates or warranty help.”

Check your privacy settings to see how you’re sharing data. Most smartwatches will have an associated app on your smartphone, which you can check to see how location, analytics or health settings might be shared.

Some will tell you if information is being shared on social media — for example, if you’re automatically posting your running routes on Facebook — or being collected for the device manufacturers.

“A general rule I have for myself is if I don’t understand what a feature does that requires sharing more data than I might be comfortable with, I turn it off,” Klosowski says. “I can always turn it back on later if it’s something I’d like to use.”

Be wary of digital training programs

James Clapham

At-home exercise equipment that includes video screens and a camera — especially high-tech exercise mirrors — may not be well suited for older people, Linkul says. While the images displayed on the screens can be helpful in guiding you through a routine, they also can be discouraging by displaying an unrealistic (younger) body ideal.

“It’s not terribly appropriate for the aging population, and we can get carried away trying to follow a 3D image,” he says.