My smartwatch can help me get up from my chair – or can it?

Having a sedentary lifestyle is a significant public health issue in many nations. This inactive behavior has been found to contribute to everything from type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer to early death.

Research has shown that long periods of inactivity can impair the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, break down fat, and reduce metabolism. Even if you exercise for the recommended 30 minutes most days, this is still not enough to compensate for an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.

Simply put – We all need to move more and sit less.

This does not mean that you have to start running 8 miles every day after work. However, you need to start focusing on the small things that matter. Make sure to get up from your chair at least once every hour, to keep your body functioning at its best.

However, remembering to get up each hour might not be as easy as it sounds. Especially if you are working in an office. Here the hours can quickly pass by while sitting at your desk trying to get through everything on your to-do list.

True or false: My smartwatch always knows when I sit down and when I should get up from my chair.

The answer is false.

We live in a world where many of us are influenced by the constant evolvement of the digital industry. New digital solutions are emerging, and new digital products are launched which should help ease our everyday life.

In addition, we see a rapid speed and evolution of wearable devices, with the purpose of improving our performance in both our work life and personal life. Smartwatches are without a doubt the most popular connected wearable device. In 2020 consumers spend a total of 22,803 million US dollars on smartwatches alone.

One of the many benefits of a smartwatch is that it can help remind us to be active. Tracking our daily activity should help increase our motivation and goals of daily movement.Yet, many smartwatches are not able to tell whether you are sitting or simply standing at your office desk.The most advanced smartwatches constantly track things like the rotation of the device, the speed of movement, and the attitude of the device.However, even with that advanced technology, it can still be difficult for a smartwatch to register whether you are sitting or standing at your desk because your wrist is resting at the edge of your keyboard.Therefore, you cannot rely entirely on your smartwatch if you want to fight the sedentary behavior in your workplace.

Use GetUpp to stay active

But with GetUpp you are one step closer to creating healthy habits at work.

You can use the GetUpp Assist as your personal assistant to help you become more active at your workplace. It is a small device that you place on the side of your height-adjustable desk, which then reminds you to stand up.

You can predefine how many hours you wish to stand each day and the GetUpp Assist will then remind you to stand correspondingly. This is done using a built-in vibrator that gives you a silent nudging when it is time to get up.

Inside the device there is a built-in height measure that registers whether your desk is in a sitting or standing height, thereby knowing your exact position at all times.

The GetUpp Assist will also let you know, once you are in the correct ergonomic position, both when you are standing up and sitting down.

The GetUpp Assist works together with the associated GetUpp App. If you leave your desk but still have your phone and/or smartwatch on you, the GetUpp App will register that you have moved position and track your activity using the health data from your phone or smartwatch.

My smartwatch can help me get up from my chair – or can it?