Wearable Widgets

We put the latest tech to the test and adorn ourselves with a Muse meditation headband, Oura sleep ring and Samsung’s Galaxy active watch.

- Kate Duncan

Have you joined the sleep-tracking, steps-counting wearable tech craze yet? I’ve never been fond of numbers. My brain is more creative than logical; I dropped out of maths in Year 10 and the AutoSum is my only Excel trick. So naturally, when fitness trackers first appeared on the scene a few years ago, I didn’t get involved. I couldn’t understand why people wanted to track their every move, breath, step, stress spike or heart rate rise — until I met the following three data trackers.

Now, I’m tech-ed out with bling on my fingers, wrist and forehead and I love it. I love trying to reach the red zone when I’m exercising and then afterwards learning how many minutes I was working at a high intensity. I love checking my sleep stats every morning and seeing how much REM (rapid eye movement) I scored overnight. I also love how my new meditation routine reveals just how many seconds (it’s only early days) my brain waves registered as calm. Not only are these smart devices motivating me to keep on track with daily habits, but being a data geek is fun too!

Muse 2