The Hidden Problem With Health Trackers

The wellness industry is rife with products, tips, and hacks that claim to help you level up your health, all with varying degrees of legitimacy and efficacy, from saunas and cold plunges to colostrum smoothies and prebiotic sodas. In this era of biohacking, health and metabolic trackers are the latest tech marketed as the key to unlock a better you. In theory, having the inside scoop on your health sounds pretty neat, but are these devices really all they're cracked up to be? Not necessarily.

Health trackers are marketed as a way to gain in-depth insights into your well-being so you can make more informed choices about how you work out, sleep, or eat. And for some people that's exactly how they function, says Rachel Goldberg, LMFT, an eating disorder specialist and founder of Rachel Goldberg Therapy. But these devices can also inadvertently trigger harmful behaviors in individuals with a history of disordered eating, she says.

Of course, it's up to individuals to know their needs, boundaries, and limits and make the lifestyle and purchasing choices that are best for them. But the trouble is, some trackers on the market claim to be tools for overall health improvement, but actually focus mostly on weight loss, something users may not realize until they've bought the device, downloaded the app, and started to use it.

It's a kind of health halo: a tracker may use the language of wellness as a euphemism for weight loss, says Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, MD, a psychiatrist and CEO and co-founder of Within Health and Galen Hope Treatment Center. "Our society is delusional because we believe that lower weight is associated with more health, which is not accurate, and these fitness trackers are pushing the idea of 'wellness' as a way to get the weight loss message in, without saying weight loss exactly."

There are plenty of fantastic health and fitness trackers on the market that we use and love. Here, we ask experts when these devices can become problematic, and how to separate the good trackers from the bad ones.

Rachel Goldberg, LMFT, an eating disorder specialist and founder of Rachel Goldberg Therapy.

Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, MD, a psychiatrist and CEO and co-founder of Within Health and Galen Hope Treatment Center.

Greer Mitchell, MD, JD, a psychiatrist and director of HopeWay's Center for Eating Disorders.

Jenn Baswick, RD, a registered dietitian and founder of The Intuitive Nutritionist.

Some people may intend to use a particular fitness tracker to support a weight-loss goal. But others may want to use a tracker to keep tabs on their exercise performance, sleep quality, or general health. And problems can occur if they unintentionally choose a tracker that markets itself as a holistic device, but uses weight loss-coded messaging or features. Such devices can be triggering to someone with a risk or history of disordered eating, says Greer Mitchell, MD, JD, a psychiatrist and director of HopeWay's Center for Eating Disorders.

"These trackers can encourage an unhealthy fixation on numbers like calories burned, steps taken, or heart rate levels, potentially leading to obsessive behaviors. And for individuals with or at risk of eating disorders, this obsession can exacerbate or encourage disordered eating habits and exercise routines," Dr. Mitchell says.

The emphasis on tracking and quantifying every aspect of your nutritional intake and physical activity can negatively impact mental health by contributing to anxiety, depression, and a distorted body image, she adds.

To some extent, because the devices are created to help people keep tabs on certain wellness metrics, any health tracker could contribute to unproductive and even damaging behaviors.

But some trackers may be more likely to pose issues than others, and some people have a heightened risk. So we asked experts how you can make sure to choose a wellness tracker that supports your goals without centering content you don't want to see — and how you can make sure you're tracking your well-being in a responsible way.

If you've ever dealt with disordered eating, be wary of using health trackers. Someone with a history of disordered eating is typically predisposed to excessively focus on calories, weight, and body image, which extends to tracking food intake and physical activity, both of which are often heavily prioritized with health trackers, Goldberg says.

When you're in the market for a health tracker, first look for what metrics the device keeps tabs on, and how much customization is possible. "If calorie counting is highlighted as a primary function rather than part of a broad spectrum of health metrics, you might want to steer clear," Dr. Mitchell says. This also includes a primary focus on BMI, pounds lost, or calories burned, Goldberg adds.

Additionally, some trackers allow you to disable these functions, but others do not, so do your research before making a purchase. In fact, any tracker with a lack of customization or option to disable weight loss-oriented features is an automatic red flag, Dr. Mitchell says.

You should also watch out for brands and/or devices that frequently use words or phrases like "diet," "calorie tracking," or "lose X pounds in X weeks," in their marketing materials, adds Dr. Mitchell. That's typically a telltale sign of where the priorities lie.

Instead, find a tracker that monitors other important health factors like heart rate, sleep quality, mood, hydration, and mindfulness, along with overall activity level, Goldberg says. And use customer reviews to your advantage, says Dr. Mitchell. "Look for detailed reviews from both users and professional review websites and focus on feedback regarding how the device impacts users' perceptions of health and wellness."

And we don't mean through your tracking device. Once you begin using a health tracker, always pay attention if any food-related anxiety, stress, or obsession comes into play, says Jenn Baswick, RD, a registered dietitian and founder of The Intuitive Nutritionist. At the first sign of unhealthy thoughts, ditch the device — even just for a week to see how your mood changes.

Also take note if you feel anxious about using the device — or anxious about not using it.

"A revealing way to assess whether a tracker has a positive or negative impact on mental health is to imagine how you would feel if you forgot it or if it broke," Goldberg says. "If the thought of such an event causes anxiety or distress, it's a signal to pause and reflect." Ask yourself, "Is the tracker genuinely enhancing my well-being, or is it masking an underlying insecurity or serving as a distraction from unresolved issues?"

Worth noting: tracking might feel good at first, even as it's affecting your mental health negatively. Tracking macros, movement, steps, or metabolic flexibility can serve as a coping mechanism, helping someone manage anxiety and gain a sense of control by adhering to self-imposed rules, like eating or burning a certain number of calories, she explains. But any relief from meeting said goals is temporary.

Remember that it's OK to listen to your body over your tech. "A lot of people, especially women, feel like they can't trust their bodies," Baswick says. "These devices are marketed toward fixing that problem and essentially saying, 'You can't trust yourself, so trust my device.'"

But it's crucial to remember that health trackers are a form of "external regulation," Dr. Oliver-Pyatt says. "It's all just a bunch of numbers that somebody else is coming up with that really don't tie in with your physiological state."

A tracker can give you helpful guidelines, but it can't take into consideration all the nuances — such as sleep, mental health, and hormone levels — that affect your daily needs and well-being, Baswick says. For the most part (barring certain health conditions), your body's own internal cues are reliable indicators of when or how much you "need" to eat, exercise, and sleep in a given day.

In fact, an over-reliance on the technology can lead to a disconnection from your natural body signals, Dr. Mitchell says. "Individuals might ignore hunger cues or signals to rest, driven instead by targets set by their devices, and this disconnection can undermine the natural regulation mechanisms of the body, leading to physical and psychological harm."

If you choose to use a health tracker, make sure you're using one that lines up with your goals. And know the warning signs that your tracking is becoming more harmful than helpful, so you can protect your well-being — which, of course, is about so much more than calories consumed or minutes exercised.

Andi Breitowich is a Chicago-based freelance writer and graduate from Emory University and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in PS, Women's Health, Cosmopolitan, and elsewhere.