The wearable fitness industry has been booming, and it may largely be thanks to baby boomers, a new report indicates.
The report names “wearable technology” the top fitness trend for 2024, followed closely by fitness programs for older adults, many of which use wearable tech or similar tools that capture health metrics.
The report, conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine, was released last week. Although its ranking of trends is based on a somewhat subjective assessment of insights gathered from healthcare experts and researchers, the “fitness for adults” ranking has been bumped up in recent years, from No. 11 in 2022 to No. 3 this year, the report showed.
The growth of tools and programs aimed at senior fitness has as much to do with the overall increase in the number of older adults — the population aged 65 or more years in the United States grew by more than 33% from 2010 to 2020 — as it does with how much they actually like those tools.
Although use of wearables is growing, the gap between older and younger adults who use wearable devices is the largest of any widely used technology, according to a recent AARP report on tech trends for 2024.
Approximately a third of older adults now use wearables, compared with 46% of adults aged 18 to 49, the report shows.
Even as use of wearable trackers lags behind smartphones or smart televisions, the survey found that 79% of older adults who do own wearables use them every day.
One group of seniors that could benefit most from using health trackers, those with heart disease, have been surprisingly slow to adopt such tools, according to one report from over the summer.
Some senior living providers are taking the lead in prioritizing residents’ fitness. Blakeford Senior Life’s Green Campus, for example, created a “smart” gym that incorporates software and equipment to generate a detailed picture of residents’ health, the McKnight’s Tech Daily recently reported.
