You’ll Never Guess What This Wearable Can Track

Introduction: The Surprising World of Wearables

Wearable technology has come a long way since its early days. Originally designed to track basic activities like steps, calories, and heart rate, wearables have evolved into sophisticated devices that monitor nearly every aspect of our physical, mental, and even emotional well-being. These devices, ranging from fitness trackers to smartwatches and specialized gadgets, are becoming essential parts of modern life, helping us understand our bodies in ways we never thought possible.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the most surprising things that wearable gadgets can track. Whether it’s measuring your hydration levels, tracking your emotional state, or even sensing environmental changes, wearables today are capable of monitoring things that might just surprise you. Some of these capabilities could soon become as commonplace as tracking your steps, and others are still in their early stages but offer incredible potential.

Let’s dive into the fascinating world of wearables and uncover just what these devices can track.

1. Tracking Hydration Levels: A Thirst for Accuracy

One of the most surprising developments in wearable technology is the ability to monitor hydration levels. Staying hydrated is critical to maintaining overall health, but it’s often hard to know when you’ve had enough water or if you’re getting dehydrated, especially if you’re busy or on the go. This is where wearables that track hydration come into play.

How Does It Work?

Wearable hydration trackers, like the HidrateSpark water bottle, come with built-in sensors that measure the amount of water you drink throughout the day. Some smartwatches and fitness trackers, like the Whoop Strap, can track the body’s hydration status by measuring metrics like heart rate variability (HRV) and sweat rates to estimate hydration levels indirectly.

Why Does It Matter?

Proper hydration is essential for maintaining energy levels, regulating body temperature, and supporting cellular functions. Dehydration can lead to fatigue, headaches, and poor cognitive function. These wearable devices provide real-time feedback, reminding users to drink water throughout the day based on their specific needs.

Example: The HidrateSpark app syncs with its smart water bottle to track your intake and sends push notifications if you haven’t met your hydration goals. This feature could be a game-changer for athletes or anyone with a busy lifestyle who may forget to drink enough water.

2. Monitoring Emotional Well-being: More Than Just Heart Rate

While fitness trackers are often associated with physical health, the latest wearables can also monitor your emotional well-being. Emotional health is just as important as physical health, and new devices can track emotional states by analyzing physiological indicators such as heart rate variability (HRV), skin temperature, and even sweat responses.

How Does It Work?

Some wearables, such as the Spire Stone, track your breathing patterns to determine whether you are feeling stressed, anxious, or calm. This wearable works by detecting changes in your breathing rhythm, which can be affected by emotional states. The device then offers real-time insights and provides feedback on how to manage your emotions through deep breathing exercises.

Why Does It Matter?

Being aware of your emotional state is essential for mental health. Chronic stress, anxiety, and other negative emotions can lead to physical health issues like high blood pressure or sleep problems. By tracking emotional responses, wearables help users gain greater control over their mental health, encouraging them to take proactive steps to manage stress.

Example: The Oura Ring is another device that can track emotional well-being. It provides insights into your HRV and sleep quality, both of which are highly correlated with emotional health. If your HRV drops, it could indicate that you are under stress or not recovering well.

3. Tracking Menstrual Health: Wearables for Women’s Health

Women’s health has seen significant advancements with the introduction of wearables designed to track menstrual cycles, fertility, and other related factors. Devices like the Ava Bracelet and Oura Ring are equipped with sensors that monitor body temperature, skin temperature, and heart rate, offering valuable insights into a woman’s cycle and reproductive health.

How Does It Work?

Wearables designed for menstrual health work by tracking subtle physiological changes that occur during different phases of the menstrual cycle. By tracking these indicators, wearables can predict when a woman is most fertile or when she might expect her period, providing real-time insights into her reproductive health.

Why Does It Matter?

Tracking menstrual health with wearables helps women manage their cycles, predict ovulation, and gain a deeper understanding of their bodies. This can be especially useful for women trying to conceive or those managing conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or endometriosis.

Example: The Ava Bracelet has been clinically validated to track a woman’s cycle and identify fertility windows. It provides users with personalized insights based on real-time physiological data, helping them make informed decisions about their reproductive health.

4. Stress and Relaxation: Analyzing Your Body’s Stress Responses

Stress is a pervasive issue in today’s fast-paced world, and understanding how your body responds to stress is crucial for managing it effectively. Some wearable devices can now track stress levels by monitoring physiological markers such as HRV, skin conductance (sweat levels), and even the frequency of your heartbeats.

How Does It Work?

Devices like the Whoop Strap and Garmin Vivosmart 4 measure HRV, a key indicator of stress. A low HRV often correlates with high stress, while a higher HRV suggests the body is in a more relaxed state. By tracking these indicators, wearables can provide insights into how your body is handling stress and offer recommendations for relaxation.

Why Does It Matter?

Chronic stress can lead to burnout, anxiety, depression, and other physical health problems. By tracking stress levels, wearables can provide real-time feedback on your emotional state and encourage relaxation through deep breathing, mindfulness, or meditation exercises.

Example: The Muse Headband helps users manage stress by guiding them through meditation sessions, using EEG sensors to monitor brain activity. It provides feedback on whether the user is calm or distracted, helping them improve their mindfulness practice.

5. Tracking Posture: A New Approach to Physical Health

Maintaining good posture is essential for preventing back pain and improving overall physical health. New wearable devices, like the Upright GO, are designed to track your posture throughout the day, providing gentle reminders to correct your posture when it begins to slouch.

How Does It Work?

The Upright GO is a small device that attaches to your upper back and uses sensors to detect the alignment of your spine. When you begin to slouch, the device vibrates to remind you to straighten up. Over time, it helps users develop better posture habits.

Why Does It Matter?

Poor posture can lead to long-term issues such as back pain, neck strain, and even headaches. By using wearables to monitor posture, users can correct poor habits early and prevent long-term physical health issues.

Example: The Upright GO is particularly popular among office workers, who spend long hours sitting at desks. The device helps them maintain good posture throughout the day, reducing the risk of developing musculoskeletal problems.

6. Environmental Monitoring: How Wearables Track Your Surroundings

Some wearables are capable of tracking environmental factors such as air quality, temperature, and UV exposure. These devices can provide real-time feedback on how your surroundings might be affecting your health, helping you take proactive steps to avoid environmental hazards.

How Does It Work?

Wearables like the Atmotube sensor can detect air quality by measuring the levels of pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and particulate matter in the air. Some smartwatches also have built-in UV sensors to warn users when they’ve been exposed to harmful levels of sunlight.

Why Does It Matter?

Environmental factors like poor air quality and excessive sun exposure can have significant impacts on your health, leading to respiratory issues, skin damage, or even long-term diseases like cancer. By using wearables to track these factors, you can reduce your exposure and take better care of your health.

Example: The Atmotube device is compact and attaches to your clothing, providing real-time data on air quality. It syncs with an app to give users detailed information about their environment, helping them avoid areas with high pollution levels.

7. Sleep Tracking: The Key to Better Rest

Quality sleep is a cornerstone of good mental and physical health, and wearables that track sleep patterns are becoming increasingly popular. Devices like the Oura Ring, Fitbit, and Whoop Strap monitor different aspects of sleep, including duration, quality, and stages of sleep.

How Does It Work?

Sleep trackers use a combination of sensors to monitor movement, heart rate, and even body temperature throughout the night. These metrics help determine how well you sleep, including how long you spend in each sleep stage (REM, deep, light). The devices then offer personalized recommendations for improving sleep quality.

Why Does It Matter?

Good sleep is essential for memory consolidation, mood regulation, and physical recovery. Wearable sleep trackers help users understand their sleep patterns and identify areas for improvement, which can lead to better overall health and well-being.

Example: The Oura Ring tracks multiple sleep metrics and provides users with a “sleep score” to assess their sleep quality. The ring also offers insights into how lifestyle factors, like exercise and stress, impact sleep.

8. The Future of Wearable Technology: What’s Next?

As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the future of wearables looks incredibly promising. Many companies are focusing on expanding the scope of what wearables can track, offering a more comprehensive understanding of our health and well-being. In the next few years, we could see advancements that make current devices look rudimentary by comparison. Here’s a look at the most exciting innovations that could define the future of wearable technology.

New Health Metrics: Tracking Blood Sugar and More

One of the most significant areas of development in wearables is non-invasive blood sugar monitoring. For people with diabetes or anyone concerned about blood sugar levels, a wearable device that can monitor glucose levels in real-time without the need for painful finger pricks would be a game-changer. Companies like Abbott and Dexcom have already made significant strides with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) that require a small patch and provide real-time data to smartphones. The next step is integrating these devices into more consumer-friendly wearables, such as smartwatches or rings, allowing for non-invasive, continuous blood sugar monitoring.

Mental Health Monitoring: Wearables for Mood and Anxiety

The potential for wearables to track not only physical health but also mental health is another exciting frontier. As we've seen, wearables today can already monitor physiological responses like heart rate, HRV, and skin conductance, which give indirect insights into emotional states. However, future devices may take this a step further by incorporating sensors that measure neurological activity, emotional patterns, and cognitive function. This could be particularly useful for detecting early signs of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, or stress, long before they manifest as physical symptoms.

Companies are already exploring brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies that could be integrated into wearables, offering real-time monitoring of neural patterns. These sensors could potentially identify imbalances or fluctuations in brain chemistry, helping users to manage their mental health proactively with data-driven insights.

Better Sleep Monitoring: Tracking REM Sleep and More

Sleep tracking has become a key feature in many wearable devices, but the future promises even more detailed and accurate measurements. New advancements in sensors and algorithms could lead to even better tracking of sleep stages, particularly REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which plays a critical role in memory consolidation and overall cognitive function. Future devices might even be able to detect sleep disorders such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy, providing critical data that can lead to early diagnosis and treatment.

For example, wearable devices may incorporate more advanced sensors, such as those that detect blood oxygen levels or monitor brain wave activity, giving users a more complete picture of their sleep health. These sensors could provide real-time data on the effectiveness of different sleep environments, habits, and even dietary changes to optimize sleep quality.

Personalized Health: Customizing Wearable Features

Another significant advancement is the ability of wearables to offer more personalized health insights. Currently, wearables are mostly focused on general health trends, but future devices may use more personalized data—such as genetic information, lifestyle habits, and even microbiome data—to provide a tailored approach to health and wellness.

For instance, wearables could track how different foods or workouts affect your body’s responses, offering personalized nutrition and fitness recommendations based on real-time data. Genetic testing could also be integrated to offer insights into things like your metabolism, risk for chronic diseases, and ideal exercise regimens.

Smarter Integration with AI: Predicting Health Events

As wearables become more sophisticated, they’ll increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to predict health events before they happen. This means that devices might not just track your health but actually anticipate when you are about to experience a health-related issue, such as a panic attack, heart arrhythmia, or even a potential stroke.

For example, AI could analyze patterns in your heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep data to predict when you might be at risk for a heart attack, providing you with warnings or suggesting preventative actions. Similarly, mental health AI could monitor emotional patterns and help predict or prevent a mood disorder episode before it becomes more severe.

9. Wearables and The Environment: How Technology Can Help Us Live Sustainably

While wearables are predominantly seen as personal health tools, their potential extends beyond individual health to environmental health. With increasing concerns about climate change and sustainability, we’re beginning to see wearables that not only track personal metrics but also help users interact with the environment more sustainably.

Tracking Environmental Impact

Some wearables are being developed to monitor an individual’s environmental impact, such as carbon emissions, energy consumption, or waste production. Devices could measure things like your transportation choices (e.g., how much you walk, bike, or drive) or track the energy consumption of your home based on data from your smart devices. This kind of wearability could encourage people to make more eco-friendly decisions by providing them with real-time data on how their actions are affecting the planet.

Supporting Environmental Health: Air Quality and UV Exposure

Many wearables today are already tracking environmental health factors such as air quality, UV exposure, and pollutants. Future wearables may take this further by providing more granular data on environmental toxins, allergens, and even pollen levels, enabling individuals to take proactive steps to protect their respiratory health.

This could be particularly beneficial for people with respiratory conditions like asthma, as they could receive alerts when air quality dips or when pollen levels rise, helping them manage their condition more effectively.

Conclusion: The Power and Promise of Modern Wearables

The evolution of wearable technology has reshaped how we view health, wellness, and our relationship with the digital world. Once limited to tracking steps or calories, today’s wearables are sophisticated health companions capable of monitoring hydration, emotional states, posture, menstrual health, environmental conditions, and even sleep cycles with astonishing precision. Their ability to translate complex biometric data into actionable insights empowers individuals to take control of their physical and mental well-being like never before.

More than just tools of convenience, wearables are increasingly being integrated into personalized health ecosystems—where data from your body, behavior, and environment converge to create tailored recommendations. From early illness detection to stress management, the capabilities of these devices are expanding rapidly, offering a glimpse into a future where our gadgets don’t just respond to our needs but anticipate them.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. As wearables collect vast amounts of sensitive personal data, ethical questions regarding privacy, consent, and ownership loom large. Consumers, developers, and regulators alike must work together to ensure that wearable innovation is matched with robust protections and transparent data practices.

Ultimately, wearables represent a powerful convergence of health, technology, and personal empowerment. The more we understand and leverage what they can track—especially the things we never imagined—they become not just tools but partners in our daily quest for healthier, more balanced lives.

Q&A

Q: What is the most surprising thing modern wearables can track?

A: Wearables today can track emotional states, hydration levels, posture, and even environmental factors like air quality—going far beyond basic step counts or heart rate.

Q: Can wearables really detect your mood or stress levels?

A: Yes. Devices use metrics like heart rate variability (HRV), breathing patterns, and skin temperature to gauge stress or mood changes and suggest relaxation techniques accordingly.

Q: How do wearables monitor hydration?

A: Some wearables track fluid intake via smart water bottles, while others estimate hydration through biometric signals like HRV and sweat composition.

Q: Are wearables accurate for sleep tracking?

A: High-end wearables like the Oura Ring and Whoop Strap provide detailed sleep stage data, although no consumer device is as accurate as a clinical sleep study.

Q: Can wearables help with women’s reproductive health?

A: Absolutely. Devices like the Ava Bracelet track physiological changes to monitor fertility, ovulation, and menstrual health with growing accuracy.

Q: What role do wearables play in environmental awareness?

A: Some wearables measure air quality, UV exposure, or pollution levels, helping users make informed decisions to protect their health in different environments.

Q: Do wearable devices pose privacy risks?

A: Yes. Since they collect sensitive health data, users must ensure they’re using secure platforms and review data-sharing permissions carefully.

Q: Are there wearables that track posture?

A: Yes. Devices like Upright GO help users maintain proper posture by sending gentle alerts when they begin to slouch.

Q: Can wearable tech predict health issues before symptoms appear?

A: Some devices, using AI and pattern recognition, can flag unusual biometrics that may signal early signs of illness or stress overload.

Q: What’s next for wearable technology?

A: Future wearables may offer non-invasive glucose tracking, brain activity monitoring, and real-time emotional feedback—all integrated with personalized AI-driven health guidance.