I’m getting my good days back, with a little help from the Huawei Watch Fit
For someone who likes being in control of her life, I’ve felt extremely out of touch lately.
These times do that to you: just when it seems like you’ve got it all together—committed to a consistent workout routine, mastered the work-from-home lifestyle, inched as close as you possibly could to the work-life balance we all want to achieve—the lockdown does a number on you. You start back at square one.
In my case, square one looked a little like this: Working until 2AM to meet deadlines—on a weekend. I passed on video calls with my friends, pulling the rain check card at every chance to interact with people I missed. I skipped my workouts and found myself frustrated at the version of myself I saw in the mirror because I knew I could do more. But also, could I really?
On a mission to turn my life under lockdown around, I turned to a single, nifty device to guide my way to a better lifestyle. Meet the Huawei Watch Fit.
I admit that I’ve never been all that amazed by smart watches, but I’ve become surprisingly attached to this one. The 10-day battery life was easily my favorite feature, as I went the entire workweek without having to charge the device despite frequently using it. Physically, the Huawei Watch Fit ticks all the boxes. It’s sleek enough to sit comfortably on the wrist and is equipped with a 1.64-inch AMOLED screen that makes it easy to navigate through the device’s menus and functions. The straps—made of a lightly textured matte material—come in four colorways that would fit seamlessly into my wardrobe under regular circumstances.
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Day 1
The first order of business: calibrating the watch to the Huawei Health app. Not one to waste time, I was pleased to find that it only took a few minutes to download the necessary data from the app and transmit it to the watch via Bluetooth. The app is a beginner-friendly, bird's eye view of some of the Huawei Watch Fit's tracking features: exercise history, heart rate, sleep, weight. The watch is also equipped with in-depth oxygen saturation and stress tracking, which were the first two features I gravitated towards.
Within a few seconds, the watch can detect your body's oxygen saturation or SpO2 levels. Low SpO2 levels can trigger health problems, so I was relieved to find out that I could keep my body in check with a simple tap of my watch screen.
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Left: The Huawei Health app grants a bird's eye view of the Huawei Watch Fit's main features
Right: A snapshot of my stress levels, as assessed by the Huawei Watch Fit
I also measured my stress levels on the first day. Backed by Huawei TruRelax™ technology, the Huawei Watch Fit keeps track of your mood and tension levels—something that I've long needed help with. According to the in-app stress test, my stress level measured in at an average of 45, which falls under the normal range. However, this number climbed up to as high as a 69 during work hours.
Day 2
One of the Huawei Watch Fit's key features is easily its 96 workout modes. Ready to keep you company whether you're running, cycling, swimming or doing home workouts with a virtual instructor, the watch keeps track of your heart rate and calories burned in real-time. It also makes up for the gym memberships we all had to say goodbye to over the lockdown with 12 animated quick-workouts that are easy enough to follow, but challenging enough to make you break a sweat.
On my second day with the Huawei Watch Fit, I put these fitness tracking features to the test. I started off my workout with three animated quick-workouts—a full-body stretch, a cardio routine and an ab toning circuit—before following along to one of my favorite YouTube exercise videos.
My workout stats—including calories burned, average heart rate and recovery time—
according to the Huawei Watch Fit
Here's something I found particularly comforting: hinged on holistic health rather than weight loss, the Huawei Watch Fit also tells you how long to rest before returning to the workout grind.
Day 3
Long gone are the days when I could function without sleep. Thankfully, the Huawei Watch Fit helped me get into the habit of not just counting my hours of rest, but understanding them.
The Huawei TruSleep 2.0 sleep tracking technology works deep into the night, classifying the hours of slumber you clock in into different sleep states: light and deep. For troubled sleepers or night owls like myself, it also supplies useful advice to help improve your sleeping habits.
On my first night of sleep tracking, I got short of four and a half hours of rest, which I regret to say had been my default state the past few weeks. However, I was determined to put work off for the weekend and get some well-deserved shut-eye.
Day 4
Over the course of the lockdown, we've all learned to celebrate small wins. Waking up, working out or in, my case, side-stepping the fear of stepping outside. Over the weekend, I slept in (eight hours of sleep!), did a quick neck and shoulder stretch routine from the watch's library of workouts, and I stepped out to run errands at the mall across our apartment complex.
Committed to my pledge to set my work-life balance back into equilibrium, I silenced all my work-related group chats, turned off my email notifications and spent most of the day with my eyes away from my phone screen. Thankfully, the Huawei Watch Fit sends a quick vibration down your wrist to alert you of incoming text messages, too. Despite leaving my phone at home, I still managed to get a quick SMS reminder through the watch.
Day 5
Come day five of my adventure with the Huawei Watch Fit, it was clear: I had unexpectedly developed a soft spot for the watch. A dependency, even. But after all the help it had given me, how couldn't I?
I'm working out more attentively, never forgetting to rest a prescribed number of hours before throwing myself back into another cardio or HIIT routine. I sleep longer hours, knowing that I have a device attached to my body keeping me in check. Even resting has become a more mindful activity punctuated by inhales and exhales and stress level checks.
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Between work, family life and keeping my health in check, the past few months have felt overwhelming to say the least, but the Huawei Watch Fit has helped me earn my good days back. It encapsulates all the things I've been missing—from working out under a trainer's instruction to getting a good night's rest. I admit my lifestyle remains a work in progress, but I rest easy knowing that my sleep, exercise, and working habits are on a road to recovery, improving with each use of the watch's holistic features.
Get the Huawei Watch Fit (P4,999) online at the official Huawei store.
Art Matthew Ian Fetalver
