Health and wellness have become many Filipinos’ top priorities these past months as people look to boost their immunity against the pandemic. Despite the growing emphasis on achieving a healthier lifestyle, however, many find it difficult, if not fail altogether, to meet their health, wellness and fitness goals. With the extended lockdowns changing people’s habits and limiting physical activities, more people face problems with their metabolism, which plays a critical role in maintaining good health.

Garmin, the leading brand of smart wearable devices with more than 60 million active users worldwide, uses health technology to accurately track users’ data and scientifically quantify their health status and guide them in achieving their health goals. Garmin’s 2021 Asian User Health Data Report, which tracks Garmin smart wearable users’ data from January to September 2021 using the smartwatches’ Resting Calories and Active Calories features, reveals lower active calories and higher stress levels among people in most Asia countries compared to last year, which could be attributed to the pandemic and restricted outdoor activities. The study shows the Resting Calories of men and women in Asia 55 years old and above dropped significantly. Older users, however, clocked more Weekly Intensity Minutes than younger users, indicating growing health consciousness as people get older.

Garmin’s study indicates people with a higher average Weekly Intensity Minutes consumed more calories — both Active and Resting Calories — emphasizing the importance of exercise in maintaining good metabolism, which in turn improves one’s health. To encourage Filipinos to choose a healthier lifestyle, Garmin launches a new campaign aimed at helping users stay motivated and on track in their fitness goals. The #HealthIsAChoice #ChooseGarmin campaign encourages a scientific approach to pursuing health goals for the long term, with smartwatches as a way to track progress, maintain good metabolism and keep motivated. With this campaign, Garmin hopes to make exercising and leading a healthier lifestyle an easier choice for more Filipinos.

Choosing Health with Garmin

A sedentary lifestyle has been a pressing concern among a growing number of Filipinos even before the pandemic. Garmin’s latest report reveals Filipinos average 42.82 Intensity Minutes, the fourth lowest average values in the SEA region with Hong Kong leading at 53 minutes. The extended indoor living further limited people’s activities these past months, and specialists pointed this increases the risks for severe COVID-19 symptoms and other diseases.

Filipinos ranked fourth globally in terms of being sleep-deprived, according to a study by Sleep Cycle in 2019. The report revealed Filipinos sleep an average of 6.5 hours a day versus the recommended 7 or more hours of sleep for adults. In terms of stress level, the country was second only to Indonesia in having the highest stress level in Asia, according to Garmin’s 2021 report. Staying physically active and having adequate sleep are important in boosting metabolism and health. Improving blood oxygen health, avoiding excessive stress, building or maintaining muscle mass and maintaining proper hydration are also vital.

Garmin Asia Senior Director Mr. Scoppen Lin shared, “The public’s awareness of health has improved significantly, and a lot of it has to do with the pandemic. In 2021, Garmin’s health and wellness product lines, which feature comprehensive health functions such as blood oxygen monitoring, had a strong growth of approximately 30 percent in the Asian markets.”

Garmin’s smart wearables help users keep an eye on health factors by monitoring sleep and stress, blood oxygen saturation, heart rate and respiration rate. Garmin encourages more health enthusiasts and fitness rookies to #ChooseGarmin in their self-training and physical activity monitoring and measurement.

To motivate users to continue exercising and boost their metabolism toward achieving better health and fitness, Garmin’s devices have sensors and trackers that show users’ progress. These help users see how their bodies are reacting to physical activities. Seeing positive results can give them a sense of achievement and motivate them further in their health and fitness journey.

Comprehensive Health Monitoring Features

Garmin’s smart wearables monitor important health functions related to the metabolic rate such as resting calories and active calories consumption. These devices also monitor heart rate, oxygen saturation, stress level, advanced sleep monitoring, fitness age, hydration and other important health functions.

These features aid the user in determining exercise quality and developing good habits to improve their metabolism and overall health. The Heart Rate tracker, for example, can be used to measure exercise intensity. The body’s efficiency in burning fat improves when the exercise heart rate is between 65 percent and 79 percent of the maximum heart rate and the intensity of the workout results in slight shortness of breath while still feeling relaxed and comfortable.

The Stress Level widget monitors changes in the heart rate and provides Relax Reminders (when enabled) to calm down when stress levels run high. The Sleep Monitoring Tracker analyzes the user’s heart rate, oxygen saturation level, respiratory rate and activity data through the three sleep cycles (light sleep, deep sleep, and REM). It provides a score based on the quality of sleep. The Hydration widget records the user’s water intake with reminders to hydrate from time to time.

Garmin’s smartwatches also have built-in workouts, including high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in select watches, which users can access and download more from the Garmin Connect app. Fitness Age widget uses chronological age, weekly vigorous activity, resting heart rate and BMI or body fat percentage to estimate if the body is younger or older than the user’s actual age.

The most notable monitoring feature of Garmin’s smart wearables is the Pulse Ox sensors. Pulse Ox is one of the most-trusted technologies in detecting blood oxygen saturation.

Blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) refers to the concentration of oxygen in human blood and is a valuable indicator of one’s health. Insufficient oxygen in the body’s tissues can lead to hypoxia, the chronic state of which leaves the body “low on fuel” resulting in dizziness, lethargy, fatigue and frequent yawning. Long-term low levels of oxygen in the blood can cause obesity and decrease in metabolism.

The Pulse Ox feature in Garmin’s devices measures a user’s oxygen saturation concentration throughout the day and in real-time to identify the body’s ability to absorb oxygen. Tracking SpO2 gives users insights on their physical performance under all kinds of conditions, even while sleeping. Monitoring SpO2 during snoozing hours can help determine if one is experiencing any sleep disorders.

The Pulse Ox feature is available in select Garmin smart wearables in the Philippines, including the Venu 2/2s, Venu Sq, Lily, vívomove series, Forerunner 245 Music, Forerunner 745, Forerunner 945; Instinct Solar, fēnix 6/6S/6X Pro Solar, tactix Delta Solar and Descent Mk2/2S/2i. These come in diverse designs and features to match the user’s lifestyle.

Learn more and activate Pulse Ox feature on Garmin smartwatch here.

To help Garmin’s #HealthIsAChoice campaign reach more people, Dr. Geraldine Zamora recently took over Garmin Philippines’ Instagram Stories to conduct a Health Talk + Q&A session to answer health-related questions from the audiences. The whole IGS session can be found in the ‘Wellness’ IGS highlight.

“Strive to be physically fit. It’s important for us to keep moving. If you cannot find the time such as an hour or two every day, a few minutes per day would do. Try to get enough sleep at night and have a balanced diet. As much as possible, we have to try replacing ‘bad foods’ with good ones. Finally, do what you think is good for your mental health,” Dr. Zamora reminded when asked about her top recommendations for staying fit and healthy.

The #HealthIsAChoice. #ChooseGarmin. campaign will run from mid-November to December to champion a safe and healthy holiday season. It will include many exciting activities and promotions to look out for. For more information, check out the minisite here and follow Garmin’s social media pages Instagram and Facebook.