Six months ago I invested in a ‘fitness tracker’ as I was taking part in a team event to keep us fit during lockdown – the team had to walk the length of the country by counting their daily steps.

Initially I was ‘sold’, here was a device that could track movement, count steps, monitor heart rate and blood oxygen, track my weight and even monitor the quality of my sleep. Surely I’d be fit enough to qualify for the summer Olympics?!

Six months on I’m beginning to think I’ve made a mistake. The device is great, it really does measure all those things. What it doesn’t do is ‘track’ them. Before it arrived I would measure these things and note them down – once or twice a month. Nothing sophisticated, just a simple note on my phone (I could never get those columns to line up!). What notes show me (and the tracker don’t) the subtle changes over time. Weight creeping up, blood oxygen dropping, a increasing heart rate etc. These are the changes you need to spot early and share with your medical advisers.

The tracker comes so close, but is not ‘there’. Until it can show my historic data over time I will revert to the old ways! Oops…..!