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Fitbit provides users with free access to health metrics

Owners of a Pixel Watch or Fitbit gadget today are receiving a fairly substantial free bonus that they would have otherwise had to pay for. The Health Metrics tab, which displays significant health-related data over time in the Fitbit app, has been made available to all users without charge, according to a Google and Fitbit announcement.

Health Metrics displays your breathing rate, skin temperature, oxygen saturation (SpO2), resting heart rate (RHR), and heartrate variability, which was formerly a Fitbit Premium function (HRV). This information can be examined as a daily measure as well as from a 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day trend viewpoint.

While not intended to replace advice from a qualified healthcare provider, this information can be useful if you’re following a cycle and wondering if you think you could be becoming sick (or fighting something), and if your health is getting better over time (or its getting worse)

If anything, when you monitor these indicators, you begin to understand what your baseline is, and if one is off on a given day, you may start probing into the day before. Did you exercise more or less, consume eight slices of pizza, consume five beers or a few cocktails before bed, or had a poor night’s sleep? All of that might affect these figures.

Go to the Fitbit app and scroll down the home page until you see “Health Metrics” to see your Health Metrics dashboard. You can add it to your main dashboard by using the “Edit” button if you can’t see it for some reason.

While inside the Health Metrics section, a tab for trends that cover the 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day time frames is located beside an overview of your day.