Although smartwatches provide indicators such as calorie expenditure, heart rate, sleep quality, and VO₂ max, most of these numbers are not exact measurements but approximate calculations.
VO₂ max (maximum oxygen consumption) is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense physical activity.
Medianews.az reports that according to experts, these devices are useful for monitoring general trends, but every number displayed on the screen should not be accepted as completely accurate.
There can be up to a 20 percent difference in calorie calculations, which is one of the most commonly used indicators. This error increases especially during strength training and intense sports.
Step counters are also not completely accurate and in some cases can give results with up to 10 percent error. This difference increases in situations where there is little hand movement.
Smartwatches calculate pulse from blood flow at the wrist, which can cause inaccurate results particularly during intense exercise.
Sleep indicators are mainly based on movement and pulse, so sleep stages are not always correctly determined.
VO₂ max and recovery scores are also approximate calculations rather than full laboratory measurements. For this reason, devices may sometimes not accurately reflect a person's real physical condition.
Experts state that smartwatches are useful tools, but key decisions should not be based solely on these indicators. The most important criterion is how the person feels.
Medianews.az