How wearing a Fitbit for a week impacted my mental health

I am not a fitness guru, nor will I ever be. But I had been thinking of getting a Fitbit for some time.

As a mum, I have been thinking more and more about keeping a close eye on my health now with little ones depending on me and all that!

But for some reason, I was cautious about a Fitbit. I suffer from anxiety and overthinking and I worried it would negatively impact or encourage that.

I also feared that if I checked my sleep and it was not great, I would feel more tired knowing for sure I had slept less!

But I went ahead and tried one for a week and this is how I got on:

I loved it. I was pleasantly surprised.

It motivated me

I thought reading how many steps I took in a day would be overwhelming. Stressful. But for me, it has been extremely motivating. I find myself using stairs where they are available instead of taking a lift.

It educated me

I really paid attention to when I felt good and when I didn’t and how that coincided with my sleep and my steps. It taught me that my body needs more sleep than it was getting.

It made me feel proactive

It seems minor but when I reached 10k steps I really felt proud of myself. When I first started wearing the Fitbit, I was barely making 3k but through motivation and changing some habits I was reaching 10k with what felt like little effort.

I’m addicted

For something I thought I never wanted I can’t believe how weird it feels when I'm not wearing it. It is a great feeling knowing you are keeping a close eye on your health.