Tech Review: Turning On of a new Leaf

The silver leaf clip on my collar at all times this week, compliments and questions as to what it was, the familiarity of the image peaking the curiosity of those around me.

"I've seen that before", "Oh, that looks familiar", "How is that thing?"

Let me tell you, I was skeptical about my Bellabeat and was sure I was going to return it after my trial run. But my goodness it has changed my life for the better.



This crowdfunded fitness tracker, targeted at helping women improve their health, has been on the market for nearly 2 years now. There are now two different trackers and a newly released device for pregnant women to hear their baby's heartbeat through a corresponding app on their phone.

Beautifully designed, immediately upon opening the packaging, I was impressed by how light and small it was. Though the "Urban" is the more popular choice, I really liked the silver/light wood look of the "Nature". After reading all the reviews of the bracelet being made of poor material and feeling that the necklace wasn't accurate for activity tracking, I decided to use it as a clip.

What impressed me the most was the app. The app itself is aesthetically pleasing. Pastels and muted brights with five clearly labeled areas: Exercise/activity, Sleep/Rest, Meditation/Mindfulness. Stress Levels, Menstrual tracking.

My first time putting it on and opening up the app.

Now, what intrigued me the most about the Bellabeat was the mindfulness and stress tracking. As someone who battles severe anxiety and depression, I've had a hard time practicing mindfulness and meditation. Group therapy and mindfulness with a therapist were practices I could never get into, actually, I felt more irritated than anything. So upon putting the device on and opening up the app, I immediately opened up the "stress" tab and was in awe to see how my stress sensitivity was calculated, visually and quantitatively.

This led me to open the meditation tab. A preset goal of 10 minutes seemed a little to low for me so I upped it to 20 minutes. Next, I tapped the "+ Meditate" button and I was greeted with 20+ varied meditation styles. Each of them is guided and has a different goal. What I loved the most was that I could do a short or long meditation.

The two meditations I did this week were "Calming Anxiety" and "Deep Sleep". I've been having a really hard time sleeping and my anxiety has been through the roof, between shaking/vibrating hands fidgity feet, heavy/light head feeling, irritation, and nausea, I was due for a good calm down. Focusing on the "Calming Anxiety" meditation, my symptoms were alleviated enough for me to focus on getting ready for ballet and walking to class.

When it came to the "Deep Sleep" meditation, I was stunned. Lately, even with my sleep prescription, I struggle to fall asleep and usually I just leave the tv on until I realize I'm too drowsy to pay attention and let it turn off on a timer, but this week I turned off the tv and did the "Deep Sleep" meditation which actually helped me relax enough to drift off into sleep. I was surprised....I reacted well and relaxed through mindfulness.

Now, I use my Fossil Q watch for tracking my steps, it's pretty accurate, so I wasn't really dependent on my Bellabeat for tracking steps. What I liked though was the ability to input my ballet activity. I liked that the way my activity was tracked was by "interrupting" my step stream, as opposed to other trackers that would just add the activity on top of the steps taken. What was also awesome was the plethora of activities that you can input on the app. They're so varied!

Packaging of my Leaf

The Bellabeat is great for tracking wellness, it truly is a wellness tracker. There's no notification buzzing, no food tracking....the distraction factor really isn't there and I love that. I honestly think that my wellness has improved over this week. If you've read my previous posts you know that food tracking can be a bit dangerous for me, so I'm glad that my Bellabeat (unlike my Fitbit) doesn't have that implemented. I don't have to be consistently conscious and tracking and checking. I really only open the app for putting my ballet activity in and taking meditation courses.

Open packaging

I would definitely recommend the Bellabeat for people who want to be more conscious of their overall well-being. I don't think it would be the best choice if you're looking for an activity tracker with the idea of losing weight or improving your fitness. You're better off sticking with a Fitbit or Garmin for that. But if you just want to keep up with your activity and maybe manage your emotional/mental and physical levels, the Bellabeat is worth giving a chance.

Website: https://webshop.bellabeat.com/