It seems a bit like magic: a small piece of technology on your wrist can track your heart rate, VO2 max, calories burnt – even how well you sleep.
But is the data providing science or nonsense? And even if it is real, can it actually help people get fitter or lose weight?
In the sixth episode of ‘Debunks’, the new podcast series from the Cosmos newsroom team and Nine Podcasts, science journalist Matthew Ward Agius unpacks his own feelings about his fitness tracker.
Joined by Dr Ty Ferguson and Dr Deborah Lupton, they investigate whether a fitness tracker is a helpful way to move more, or a stunningly simple machine tracking your every move.
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Debunks is a science podcast that asks questions that you actually want answered.
Each week a journalist in the Cosmos newsroom expertly guides listeners through the science topics of the day, from EVs and bushfires to Ozempic. Plus we unpack all the misinformation that comes with it.
Originally published by Cosmos as Do fitness trackers help you lose weight?
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