I know this is is something that some older mom's do, but mine sent me an article about fit bit type bracelets can cause cancer! I just bought mine & now I'm afraid to use it. Have you heard the same thing?
Nope, I've never heard of that. But everything in the state of California could cause cancer, they have signs everywhere announcing it. Seriously, even the grocery stores have the signs. My husband is a nurse, so I have a relaxed attitude about things like that. I don't want to get cancer. But he sees people from all walks of life, with all different careers, activities, diets, everything, who all ended up with cancer. I'm not going to worry about things I can't control, and getting cancer is sadly one of them. I can only control so much of my environment. I don't have the resources to grow all my own food. I use a cell phone, computer, kindle and enjoy watching some TV. And since the Fitbit encourages me to move and exercise, hopefully preventing me from getting diabetes, etc. I'm willing to take that risk. I really hope this doesn't come off as callous. I think if there's been studies done, and it's a common side effect, it's definitely worth giving a second look to. And I would totally understand anyone who doesn't want to take the risk, whatever the size it may be. To answer your original question, nope, hadn't heard that!
My father actually has cancer and started wearing a fitbit to encourage a bit more movement and such. His doctor has never said anything about it, nothing negative at least. So I am just taking that as a sign to not worry to much about it. I have read a few worried peoples postings on the www, and I have read replies from fitbit people and others. I have not really looked into it further though. Didn't they say tomatoes caused cancer a few years ago? I mean, people say stuff. My fitbit helps me to live a more active life and I think that helps me to actually bring down changes of health problems.
Science reporting is causing so much confusion. The University of Utah evaluates the claim, and cites some pretty strong sources (CDC, World Health Organization): https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/postings/2015/03/033015_cvarticle-fitness-tracker.php I think their best argument is that despite a huge increase in the use of smart devices, brain cancer rates are pretty much the same as always.
I've never heard of that, and I agree with Courtney's point of view. My Fitbit does more good to my overall fitness than some obscure chance of it giving me cancer. I think my cell phone would be more prone to that than my Fitbit, and nothing will make me give up my iPhone. I did read a story a few years back, however, about how a lady in England figured out she was pregnant because of the heart rate readings her Fitbit was giving. It detected two independent sets of heartbeats, which I think is pretty cool.
I'm so sorry to hear that, Berniek. I wish him all the best for improvement in his health and peace of mind for you!
It's actually let a few people know they were pregnant! Usually because even when resting, the woman's heart rate is higher than it was, or expected to be. Also, did you hear it helped break an alibi in a murder?
i kinda laughed at the older mum's bit and my mum is still one of those that won't stand near the microwave when it is on but i hadn't heard re: fitbit yet but am not surprised, as everyone has said everything gets blamed for cancer, which really seems to be the most random of diseases - risk benefit analysis i'd stick with the fitbit if it motivates you to exercise more and interesting stuff about resting heartrate - it definitely predicts when i'm getting sick, it spikes like crazy about 2-3 days before i feel the symptoms, we thought it was a glitch at first but has been consistent at predicting it over the last year and a half
doesn't work for DH in this way but it does seem to spike consistently when his boss returns from trips away - funny that
For every paper published about something you can find one that states the exact same opposite. I still haven't started using mine.
My Dr. suggested I start using one too. I assume she wouldn't have done so if this was a proven thing. And Courtney is right about California. I even saw it at fast food pick up windows!
I love mine, Nancy and have never regretted wearing one. I started off with the Flex and now use the Blaze. Hubby has had a Charge, Surge, and now uses the Blaze too. If you get a FitBit and are interested in joining our weekly step challenges, just let me or Courtney @bestcee know. She has been kicking my rear in the challenges for the past few weeks.
When I was in college, I had to take a lot of statistics. Controlled studies to prove or disprove things are hard to do with populations of humans. So if you look at 10,000 wearers and 10,000 non-wearers and the cancer rate is higher in the fitbit wearers, is it really the fitbit? There could be behavioral / lifestyle differences between groups of people that aren't just the wearing of the fitbit. Maybe it's the added sunlight from doing more steps outside, for example. Or maybe they're more health conscious so they eat differently than people who don't wear fit bits. It's near-impossible to get similar groups of people with only one - fitbit or no fitbit - difference between the populations. Plus, what cancer are they talking about? How do they know? As a personal trainer, I'm only a moderate fan of exercise trackers, but their cancer-causing properties isn't a reason, LOL.