8541RB Reading for Me Level 4 Part A

Factual
How Do Fitness Trackers
Work?
Fitness trackers are an extremely popular way to track your activity and
basic fitness levels. Do you have one? Everyone seems to be wearing them.
They help people achieve health goals and maintain healthy habits. Onehundred
and twenty million fitness trackers were sold in 2019. How do
these devices on our wrists know our step counts and heart rates?
Fitness trackers sense when and how you move. People move at different
speeds, in different directions and in different rotations. Every fitness
tracker has an accelerometer. An accelerometer can track movement
in every direction. A gyroscope measures the orientation and rotation.
Together, they can tell how you are moving. They can tell whether you are
moving back and forth, side to side, or up and down. This data is used to
calculate how fast you are moving and how many steps it takes you to get
there.
Most fitness trackers can also measure your heart rate. Have you noticed
a green light on the underside of the face? This is a small LED light.
Together with a light sensor, it helps to measure and calculate your heart
rate. Your blood absorbs green light. The tracker measures how fast your
heart is pumping by analysing the changes in the light. The faster the
blood pumps, the higher your heart rate.
Fitness trackers can also measure how much you
sleep. They use your heart rate, movement and
breathing tempo to measure your sleep.
The tracker sends all the data to a
microprocessor. This is like the ‘brain’ of the
tracker. The tracker uses an algorithm to process
the data. It sends the relevant information to an
app on a phone or tablet. You can compare your
progress with your past data.
Some fitness trackers can play music, make phone
calls and even remind you of your appointments.
You can use the timer or the stopwatch at sport
practice. You can use the torch to find your way in the dark.
A fitness tracker is the ultimate sporting and fitness companion. It helps
us to track our progress and motivates us to do better.
120 Reading for Me Level 4 (Part A) 978-1-922843-63-0 R.I.C. Publications ® Prim-Ed Publishing