As people age, they tend to become less active. This can lead to many health problems, such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Luckily, there are a number of fitness trackers on the market that are designed specifically for elderly users. In this blog post, we will take a look at some of the best fitness trackers for seniors.
So this all started with me having to worry more about my mother and her health level following a recent stint in the hospital. While she has had some health issues for many years, many of her issues stem from a lack of mobility, or more so a lack of being mobile and active. It’s one thing to tell an elderly parent that they need to be more active, but how do you know they are doing so unless you have a way to keep track of their activity level? That’s where a fitness tracker comes in handy, and while there are a ton of different ones to choose from, I’ve whittled it down to a handful of recommendations.
Top Choice: Fitbit Charge 5
The Fitbit Charge 5 comes loaded down with features you would tend to find in much pricier options. With the Charge 5, you get activity and sleep tracking, stress management tools, heart rate monitor, and more. The app makes it easy to pull all this information together. However, if you are wanting to sync this data with Apple Health, then you want to look elsewhere. Also to use the full set of features, you need to have the Fitbit subscription. If you cancel or just skip the subscription then several features will be disabled or limited. Overall though, you get a lot from the Fitbit Charge for the price in comparison to other options.
Second Choice: Garmin vívofit 4
If you just want a simple, no-frills fitness tracker to make sure your elderly parent is getting in a certain number of steps each day, then the Garmin vívofit 4 is a great option. While the Garmin lacks many of the features of the Fitbit Charge, it does the basics of tracking your steps, distance, and calories burned. You can also get some sleep monitoring from it but based on reviews I wouldn’t put too much reliance on that data. A big selling point for the Garmin is the 1 year battery life, which will be a lifesaver if your parent forgets to charge their devices. Once again however, there is no mention of the Garmin app syncing its data with Apple Health.
For Apple lovers: Apple Watch
When it comes to the Apple ecosystem, you won’t do any better than the latest and greatest Apple Watch. Every series upgrade adds something new to the feature mix, which already includes a more advanced degree of fitness tracking and sleep tracking even on the cheaper ones. Personally, this one is a hard one for me to justify buying for my mother as I know she won’t be using many of its non-fitness features of it. Of course, the fact there is no subscription to maintain with this, it syncs fully with Apple Health, and smoothly ties into the Apple Ecosystem could be enough to justify one for your parents.
Non-Apple watch alternative: Fitbit Blaze Smart Fitness Watch
If your parent is sold on the idea of a smart watch, but doesn’t care for Apple or doesn’t use other Apple products, then you may want to check out Fitbit’s smart watch. The Blaze Smart Fitness Watch is listed as being compatible with both Android and iOS devices, while bringing along the fitness tracking features and some of the standard smart watch features. If your parent could use the text message and calendar notifications then the Blaze Smart Fitness Watch might be a better option for you. However, because it is typically priced pretty close to the Apple Watch, you may find it a little harder to justify when you could get more features for a lower price.
