The best fitness trackers can tell you a lot about your overall health — designed to be worn 24/7, they’ll track your heart rate, daily activity levels, calories burned, and how well you sleep.
And now, US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he'd like to see every American wearing some form of health or fitness device by 2029.
“My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years,” he said at a congressional hearing last week. It was announced, his department will soon begin one of “the biggest campaigns in HHS history,” which it says will help Americans “take control over their own health.”
We don’t know the details just yet. It isn’t clear, for example, whether the government will subsidize existing devices to make them more affordable or release a Trump-branded health tracker, following the recent Trump phone.
Wearables better than Ozempic?
During the congressional hearing, Kennedy Jr. said that his agency, which is behind the 'Make America Healthy Again', or MAHA, movement, is exploring ways to make the cost of blood glucose monitors more accessible.
He also suggested that an $80 wearable might be a better solution to the weight-loss drug Ozempic for controlling diabetes and weight, describing friends who “lost their diabetes” after wearing glucose monitors.
Evidence shows diet and exercise changes can reverse Type 2 diabetes, and that glucose monitoring can be effective in motivating patients to make better decisions.
Serious questions raised
At the time of writing, we don’t have a lot of information about what this campaign might look like, but questions have been raised about the safety of users’ health data.
Would the government or insurance providers have access to our fitness tracker data? And how would our privacy be protected?
For example, Strava got in hot water for leaking the location data of users in 2023. And in 2018, MyFitnessPal exposed the usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords of 150 million users.
It’s also worth noting that while fitness trackers are an excellent resource, they won’t be suitable for everyone. It’s estimated that 28.8 million Americans will suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetime, and psychologists have tracked a recent rise in orthorexia, body dysmorphia, and anxiety.
These disorders can all be aggravated by the influx of data you receive while wearing a fitness tracker.
On the surface, however, fitness trackers have the potential to help you make healthier choices and gain a deeper understanding of your overall health. Trackers like the Apple Watch will alert you if it detects an irregular heart rhythm, which could save your life.
But this isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and a fitness tracker can never replace guidance from medical professionals. Ultimately, fitness trackers are only a piece of the health puzzle, and right now, we have more questions than answers
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