Do fitness trackers cause cancer?

Fitness trackers have taken the world by storm. The ability to monitor everything from the steps you take to the amount of high quality sleep you get and the amount of exercise you do has made the recording of personal progress as simple as looking at your watch or tapping on your phone. Since the people that would most want to use these devices are the ones who are most concerned about their health, an obvious question would be about whether they have any negative health effects.

Can fitness trackers cause cancer?

The mechanism used by fitness trackers to transmit information is very similar to that used by mobile phones. They do this using something called non-ionizing radio frequencies or radiation (RF). Radiation is a scary word, but the sun's rays and our own body heat emit a form of radiation. Some forms of radiation can cause cancers, whiles others don't. Since the form of radiation emitted by tracking devices is non-ionizing, the energy is not strong enough to alter molecules or atoms. They do, however, make electrons go into a higher energetic state. Forms of radiation that alter molecules are the ones that cause mutation and cancer. The radiation from fitness trackers doesn't directly change your molecular structure, but they do energize electrons. This means that the cancer-causing risk of these devices are low... but not absent.

The World Health Organisation states that mobile phones are possibly carcinogenic because of the long-term radiation that they emit. More research needs to be done, since mobile phones have not been around for as long as we think and cancer takes a long time to form. This makes it very hard to study and draw definitive links between the two. More research is currently being done. The radiation in these devices is relatively low. There are bodies like the FCC that closely monitor the amount of radiation emitted from consumer devices to make sure that they stay within pre-determined limits. Fitness trackers emit far less radiation than mobile phones.

Should we be wearing fitness trackers all day long?

Fitness Finest explains that researchers have pointed out that the increase in mobile phone usage without an increase in brain cancers shows that there might not be a link between the two. They also say that since fitness trackers emit even less radiation, long-term cancer should be 'the least of your worries for now'. They also say that the unproven cancer risk of wearing one of these devices is far less than the risk of diseases caused by living a sedentary lifestyle. If you live a healthier lifestyle than what you would without a fitness tracker, you would be better off wearing one.

The New York Times quotes Dr. Joseph Mercola, who has had a lot of focus on the connection between mobile phones and cancer. Dr. Joseph Mercola says that as long as the fitness tracker does not have 3G capabilities, the cancer-causing effects of fitness trackers are "minimal, if any". He says that fitness trackers with a 3G connection, though, would equate to having a phone strapped to your wrist permanently.

My verdict

I would look at whether or not wearing a fitness tracker encourages you to live a healthier lifestyle. If the answer is yes, then the known positive effects will outweigh the unknown negative health effects. If wearing one of these devices does not affect the amount of exercise you do, restful sleep you get or the food you eat, there is not much point in using one anyway.

I am looking forward to reading what you have to say about whether or not you think fitness trackers can cause cancer in your comments below. Stay Strong!

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