People who are interested in their personal fitness continually look for ways to improve in all areas that impact their wellness – from better nutrition, better sleep, practicing mindfulness and meditation, to improved insights on their overall health. It comes as little surprise then that the fitness and wellness industry is a massive global market, with AI not surprisingly aiming to make a similarly big impact. According to a study from McKinsey the global wellness market is estimated to be at more than $1.5 trillion, with annual growth of 5 to 10 percent.
Technology has long played a role in the fitness industry. However, existing non-cognitive technology approaches such as basic calorie trackers or step counters can only provide so much personalized insights. With the help of AI people can now get the personalized insights they seek to improve the results of their fitness and wellness efforts. From AI-powered fitness apps that provide customized workouts, to wearable devices that monitor physical activity, heart rate, and sleep to provide personalized recommendations, AI is enhancing the way people approach health and wellness. The use of AI for fitness and wellness is enhancing existing technology and providing new applications for health to provide data-driven insights like never before.
Wearable devices allow additional monitoring
Wearable technology is becoming an integral part of people’s modern fitness and wellness journeys. It’s not uncommon to see people regularly wear smartwatches, necklaces, rings, and other wearable devices that capture a variety of data on their personal health throughout the day. Now, with the help of AI, the data gathered from these devices is even more valuable.
Wearables help provide a more holistic view of a person’s health. AI-enabled wearables provide real-time stats throughout the day including how active they are, track their heart rate, calories burned, and even sleep data. This real-time feedback helps better understand their overall health and allows users to actively track their health journey over time.
For example, smartwatches such as the Apple watch use AI to provide highly personalized health insights, track fitness activities, and monitor heart rate. The Oura ring is a smart ring that uses AI to track sleep and daily activity. The ring analyzes patterns of the wearer over time to provide personalized health insights and recommendations to help improve sleep and overall health.
AI-powered wearables are also allowing users to make adjustments in real-time to prevent injury, over exertion, or recommend additional adjustments that can positively impact their health and wellness. For example, a wearable device might detect that a user’s running form is deteriorating as they increase their mileage and prompt the runner to adjust their posture or slow down to avoid injury. AI-powered wearables can now play a crucial role in helping users achieve their fitness goals by offering precise and actionable feedback.
Personalized Programs to stay on track
While no one has the same exact fitness goals, traditional training programs are general enough such that they appeal to a broad range of people. In the past, providing personalized training plans was both time consuming and potentially cost prohibitive. Now, AI is assisting in delivering customized experiences to users. AI-driven fitness apps are creating tailored workout plans based on an individual’s data such as age, fitness level, goals, and even daily activity patterns. Digital fitness app Aaptiv leverages AI to deliver personalized fitness routines. It takes into account the person’s workout preferences, fitness goals, as well as their current fitness level and adapts the plan over time. This data-driven approach to fitness helps users both gain insights into their health while also doing workouts they enjoy.
MyFitnessPal, a popular calorie tracker app, is using AI to help people stay on track with nutrition goals. Tracking calories can be a very helpful practice to keep someone on track with their nutrition goals, however it can also be time consuming and difficult to do when you don’t always have access to nutrition information such as when eating out at a restaurant or enjoying a home cooked meal at a friend’s house. With the help of AI and computer vision technology, a user is now able to take a picture of their meal and the app recognizes foods in the image to suggest verified foods from their database to help user’s accurately track meals and stay on track with their nutrition and diet.
Meditation and mindfulness has grown in popularity in recent years as a way for people to pause, focus on their breath, and regroup in a world where people are always on the go. There are a number of apps that have emerged to help guide users in their mindfulness journey and assist them in meditations. Headspace, a popular mindfulness and meditation app, is using AI to analyze a user’s past sessions in the app, personal preferences, and behavior and then recommend content such as different meditation sessions, mindfulness exercises, or sleep content that align to the individual’s current needs. The app also uses AI to adapt to user feedback. It’s able to adjust the difficulty or focus of meditation sessions based on how users rate their experiences and help adjust mindfulness goals accordingly.
AI is making significant strides in the fitness industry providing personalized training programs, enhancing wearable technology, and helping people better track their diets and sleep. These innovations are not only making fitness more accessible and effective but AI can be your secret weapon to help you achieve fitness and wellness goals.
