Mio Slice: New tracker and health metric may help you live longer

Mio introduced a new fitness tracker called the Mio SLICE at CES Monday and, with it, a new kind of health index called the Personal Activity Intelligence index that supposedly helps practitioners live up to a decade longer.

Mio’s patent-pending PAI algorithm is based on the HUNT Study, one of the largest health studies ever conducted in history, in which more than 60,000 individuals were closely monitored over 20 years. The extensive scientific study links activity levels to health outcomes. Keeping your PAI score above 100 will increase your lifespan by up to 10 years and provide maximum protection from lifestyle diseases.

“PAI is the most relevant index for measuring whether your activity level is sufficient to achieve maximum health benefits,” said Ulrik Wisløff, Professor at Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “Managing your PAI score helps you to reduce your risk of lifestyle-related diseases. Put simply, it helps you live healthier for longer.”

With PAI, everyone’s goal is to maintain a score of at least 100, but the quantity and intensity of activity required to achieve that goal is personalized based on a user’s profile. One individual’s path to fitness may be very different from another’s, which emphasizes the need for a personalized approach to monitoring health and fitness. Steps and other activity metrics are meaningless unless you can relate them to your body’s unique physiological response, particularly in terms of changes in heart rate.

The new SLICE activity tracker wristband, to be previewed at CES, is the first device that will display a user’s PAI score based on all-day heart rate monitoring. The SLICE activity tracker will be available to the public later in 2016, while its companion app, Mio PAI, will be available in January 2016. Mio’s current line of wearables will also be compatible with the PAI app.

“Even with all the personal data you can collect these days on your health and fitness, until now, there’s never been a standard for how active you personally need to be in order to stay healthy,” said Liz Dickinson, CEO of Mio Global. “We hope to inspire and educate health-conscious and fitness-minded individuals by offering a new, more personalized metric to achieve goals based on their own unique physiology.”

Mio’s product line is available at national retailers throughout North America including REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target and MEC, as well as hundreds of specialty retailers. Mio’s products are also sold worldwide across Europe, Australia, and Asia. Additionally, Mio works with national fitness clubs and boutique gyms to incorporate heart rate training into fitness classes.

Mio’s PAI mobile app is available now for Android and iOS.

Agencies/Canadajournal