For a techno gadget, you should be very, very, very wary of expecting anything “life-changing.”
There are features of the watch that are designed to be “life-saving,” and there are quite a few true tales of the watch doing exactly that. This should not be minimized, but things such as fall detection and heart health notifications should be viewed the same way as you might the seatbelt in your car: prudent to the point that it could be considered folly to do without, but, at the same time, very, very few people will experience the benefit.
But the watch also has a potential to be life-changing, in that, out of the box, it encourages you to be at least minimally active according to the general recommendations for activity.
If you make a reasonable effort to make Siri happy as she nags you to close your rings, you will be adequately physically active. Note that this doesn’t require perfection! But if you maintain a basically perfect Stand record and also close all three rings at least a few times a week, you’re meeting basically any minimum recommendations anybody is going to give you.
First, consider that a shocking percentage of the population is not minimally active.
Next, consider that a very high percentage of cases of “metabolic disorder” (the constellation of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, etc.) can be attributed in large part to not being minimally active. Further, inactivity is also a well-known highly-significant contributor to most common forms of mental illness. (Note: “contributor”; there are absolutely other causes, most much more significant, and not everybody who’s inactive suffers. But being inactive almost always makes things worse, and certainly doesn’t do you any favors.)
Last, at least anecdotally, smartwatch owners are much more likely to “make Siri happy” and be at least minimally active.
An active lifestyle is (with rare exception) necessary (but not sufficient!) for a happy life. Being active isn’t going to solve all of life’s problems — not even close! However, being inactive is going to create problems, and being active is going to help you improve many aspects of your life.
There are two other big, obvious necessary conditions: healthy, regular eating and sleeping habits. The Apple Watch doesn’t do anything for the former (though there are apps that can help), and it doesn’t do an awful lot for the latter (though it does some, and again with apps that do more).
Without those three, you’ve got problems such that one of your top priorities should be fixing all three. Then, with that foundation laid, building whatever else upon it will be much more likely to be successful.
And the Watch … it won’t magically fix anything, but many people have found it to be a surprisingly effective tool to make success more likely.
… and then, of course, there’s all the little things, like having reminders right when you need them, as well as the nifty things like being able to identify that bright star in the sky. “Useful” and “fun” aren’t necessarily “life-changing,” but they shouldn’t be overlooked, either.
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