The modern hectic and stressful lifestyle makes even the young face many health issues. The environment we live and work in makes it difficult to relax in true sense. Under the circumstances, any tool that helps us relax is welcome. W/Me by Phyode is a wristband that helps you do just that. There are similar wrist bands that help you monitor your health but W/Me goes a step further and informs you of your mood and your body’s vitality level. The key to relaxation is rhythmic breathing. It is common knowledge that one must take deep breath when upset. If you concentrate on your breathing you will be able to balance your emotions.
UNBOXING
W/Me help you to bring your focus back on breathing. It is the right product to start with if you have no experience of relaxation techniques. At the same time it is useful for those who are trained in breathing exercise because it can remind you when you are going wrong. I decided to try the product myself instead of depending on the marketing pitch developed by the marketers. W/Me comes packaged in an attractive wooden box. Apart from the main gadget the manufacturers provide five wristbands in different colors. The idea is that you must choose the band to suit your mood or the outfit you are wearing.
I was greeted with a digital ‘Hi’ as soon as I chose a band and turned it on. I must admit that I felt that it was a positive start. The W/Me app is available at the iTunes store and one can download it for free. There are no hidden costs as you don’t even pay any annual subscription. As soon as you download the app it asks you to submit your age, sex, height and weight. According to the company the information is necessary for what they call life spectrum analyzer. The W/Me was now ready for the actual measurement. I had some trouble in starting the process as after every attempt the app kept firing the message to keep still. I had to shift the band before the measurements began.
I set the timer for measurement for three minutes. The app kept encouraging me to remain calm. I was holding onto the buttons and could see my heartbeat on the screen along with an animated picture of a beach and the sea. The level of the sea rose and fell with my breathing. After three minutes the device gave out the results. My Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Age 30, Agility 74, heart rate BPM was 72. The ANS age is determined by comparing your data with the data of the people in the same age in their database. If the result is lesser than your actual age then you are doing better than the people your age. The agility score indicates your body’s ability to adapt to the changing environment.
There are five different levels of coaching through the app and one programmable level to practice abdominal breathing. The higher the level, the slower your breathing needs to be. There’s also a customizable level you can program to help fine-tune your coaching. The additional features in the W/Me are that it works as a digital watch. It can be programmed to give alerts of incoming email and phone calls. It can also be used to trigger the camera shutter on your iOS device. It also features a built in flashlight.
The gadget obviously has some positives and negatives and I would asses it as follows:
Pros:
It is better that other fitness wristbands in the market as it measures breathing and moods. It guides you on adopting the right breathing techniques to help you relax and deal with stress better. The additional features make it even more useful.
Cons:
It is designed for medium sized wrists and may not fit extra large wrists. It is much wider than other fitness bands and it is not something you would like to wear all the time. At times it does not measure accurately while on your wrist and you have to remove it and hold it in your hand.
Finally I must admit that W/Me is a unique health wristband and more useful than others in the category. If you are worried about your stress levels and believe that $170 is a reasonable price then you should go for it and learn to be calm. It can definitely help you lead a longer and healthier life.
