Tech

Stay Mindfully Connected With the New Apple Watch Series 9

Gain insights about your health and stay motivated to embrace your inner strength.

by : Val Desjardins- Sep 20th, 2023

Apple

Like many other consumers and business professionals, I use an assortment of Apple products in my everyday life. One of the products that I’ve become the most invested in, both as an athlete and as an actor in the health and wellness industry, is the Apple Watch. It leans into my desire to use technology intentionally, all the while providing data-driven motivation and insight when it comes to my health and habits.

The Apple Watch Series 9 lineup, which was announced on September 12, sports the same iconic design as its predecessors, it houses a brand-new S9 chip that is integral to its novelty. This is the first update to the watch’s chip since Apple’s Series 6 lineup—it adds to the powerful and autonomous experience being offered on these devices.

Not only that, but this new roster of watches is integral to Apple’s commitment to sustainability. The company has taken various steps to increase its use of recycled materials, and reduce the carbon footprint related to its production. When the watch face is paired with the Sport Loop band (which is made of 82% recycled yarn), the Apple Watch Series 9 is deemed carbon neutral. This is Apple’s first product to ever achieve carbon neutrality.

New features for the Series 9 lineup also include a brighter display (up to 2000 nits), the ability to process Siri queries on your device and the integration of Apple’s newest double tap gesture, which allows users to control certain key features on the watch without even touching their screen. The company also launched a new pink colourway for the watch, aligning with the exclusive shade of pink that will be made available for the iPhone 15.

Tylea Cole

The value of this device goes beyond its technical capabilities, and is actually rooted in the insight it can provide us about ourselves. I’ve found that using the data available to us through the watch can be central to embracing a lifestyle focused on health and wellness. For example, while it’s obvious that the heart rate monitor in the watch can help us track the intensity of our workouts, it also captures data throughout the rest of our day. The same can be said about our blood oxygen levels, which are measured periodically throughout the day thanks to a sensor on the watch. Both of these metrics can help us identify periods of high stress and other changes that our bodies are experiencing. At its most extreme, the Apple Watch also has the capacity to generate an electrocardiogram (ECG), granting it the capacity to pick up on abnormalities in our heart rate and sometimes prompting much warranted visits to health professionals.

Furthermore, wearing the watch during the night can provide you with insight on your sleep, allowing you to track your sleep cycles and ensuring that you’re getting a consistent amount of rest every day. The temperature sensor on the wrist also allows the watch to track shifts in our baseline temperature. This is known to be an indicator of the biphasic shift and, for those who menstruate, can help identify their ovulation window. All in all, these health metrics are all impacted by changes to our lifestyle, and that are telling of our energy levels and how effective our recovery process is.

Apple

Beyond the health metrics that the Apple Watch allows me to track, I’ve also found that the device has facilitated maintaining my boundaries to technology. Like many other consumers, my phone is the device that I spend the most time on—thanks to the many hardware and software advancements that have unfolded over the last few years. This can make it easy to get distracted while completing any task. Instead, I’ve found that the watch can act as a gateway to our devices, helping us decide what pieces of information truly need to make their way to us throughout the day and leaning in the direction of mindful connectivity.

As someone invested in the wellness industry, I make a point of striking a delicate balance when it comes to technology. While I value disconnection and its resourcing capabilities, I know that it offers us invaluable insight about ourselves and has the power to inform the habits that we embrace. Apple has created an ecosystem that allows consumers to cater to very individual needs and that leans into the future of data-driven health and wellness. Ultimately, if used properly, their devices offer us an opportunity to get to know ourselves better than we ever did before.