I’m 35 years old, which is still relatively young, but the reality is that I’m not as young or active as I once was. For most of my life I’ve played sports, often multiple at any one time, be it Aussie rules football, basketball, roller hockey or indoor soccer. However, a few years ago I was struck down by a foot injury that prevented me from playing sport for the better part of two years, and since then I’ve been lacking in the exercise department.
It wasn’t until a recent trip to the GP that things changed, because truth be told they needed to. I went in for a general check-up which included a heart check. For the most part I am in fairly healthy nick (or so I tell myself), but when quizzed about how much exercise I do in a week all I could say is that I do between 10–15,000 steps a day thanks to my day job, which I thought was pretty good. However, I found out that while it is great for my bones it does next to nothing for my heart, and at the very least I should be exercising for at least 20 minutes three times a week. So it was time to make some changes.
A normal day for me includes around 9–10 hours at my day job before coming home and tackling my WellPlayed duties, whether that be playing games or writing about them. I’ll be the first one to tell you that a lot of the time I just can’t be stuffed doing exercise (or much of anything) after being on my feet for 10 hours, and on the days I’m not working I am often sitting at my computer or on the couch.
Sometimes it’s easy to park yourself on the couch, kick your feet up and play games for hours
Gaming, while incredibly fun, is also an activity that finds people sitting down for long periods, and if you’re not getting the right amount of exercise it can have severe impacts on your physical and mental health. It’s important that we understand this and realise just how easy it is to improve our health and wellbeing. It doesn’t have to be extreme changes either; you don’t have to go from sitting on the couch 10 hours a day to trying out for the Olympic athletics team. Even just small changes can have a big impact.
I was presented with an opportunity to test out the new Huawei GT 3 smartwatch, which I would usually turn down because I’m more of a normal watch person, but it gave me a chance to kick some old habits, get fitter and track my progress while doing so.
The GT 3 utilises the Huawei Health App, which even if you don’t have a Huawei phone will work on other Android or iOS devices. As a fan of watches in general I have to say I quite like the circular and sleek design of the GT 3. The watch itself has a ton of different features that allow users to track all kinds of data, such as your heart rate, stress levels, skin temperature, as well as do things like breathing exercises. It can do basic functions like taking phone calls, receiving notifications, playing music and more, but my interest was on the health side of things.
When doing exercise, you can set the watch to the type of session you’re doing, such as a run, walk, bike ride, swim, hike and more. You can even select the conditions – whether it be an indoor or outdoor run or walk, a swim in the ocean or a pool, or many others. Both the watch and the app will then give you data on your session, from how far you’ve travelled, to your pace, your heart rate, the route you travelled, the number of calories burned and more.
The Huawei GT 3 smartwatch can help you improve your health and wellbeing
Keeping fit and healthy is more than just going for runs or pumping iron at the gym, it’s also about making sure you get enough rest. Ever since I can remember I have been an extremely light sleeper, with even the slightest noise or bit of light waking me from my slumber. I also don’t get enough sleep (self-inflicted), and not only do my eyes sometimes look like I’ve been in a donnybrook with Kostya Tszyu in his prime, but I’m also frequently tired, which can affect my ability to do my jobs.
Another feature of the Huawei GT 3 is that it monitors and tracks your sleep, giving you data on the quality and type of sleep you’re having (deep sleep, light sleep, REM sleep). This is perhaps what interested me the most; having some form of data to back up my claim as one of the world’s lightest sleepers.
Although the data shouldn’t be interpreted as gospel, there was enough evidence to suggest that my sleep schedule needed improvement and that while the quality of my sleep was good, my deep sleep continuity was ranked low and I would wake up multiple times a night. Unsurprisingly, I found that on days I went for a run and cut down (as much as possible) on screen time, I slept better and scored higher in the above areas.
While it would be a stretch to say that I missed exercising, I did enjoy pushing myself further each time I went for a run, knowing that I was making myself healthier in the process. It’s a work in progress though, and while I try to exercise as much as possible there have been weeks where I’m simply dead on my feet.
Feel the burn
Sleep still needs work
Motivation is often the hardest thing to find, especially when time can be so finite for many people who work or study full-time, potentially have kids, and just general adult commitments (shopping, cleaning, etc.). Sometimes all it can take is something as simple as buying a smartwatch, something that gives you data that shows you’re making progress – almost like a pat on the back or a bum tap if you’re the AFL or NRL type. I know I wouldn’t have made an effort to improve my health if it wasn’t for the Huawei GT 3 smartwatch.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that your health not only impacts you but also those around you, whether it be family, friends, work colleagues or others. The health and wellbeing (both mental and physical) of ourselves should be a high priority and if that means putting down the controller for an hour or so a few times a week then so be it, the benefits are worth it.
For more information on the Huawei GT 3 you can check out the Huawei website.
The Huawei GT 3 smartwatch was provided by Huawei
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