Wearables are no longer just fitness trackers. They’ve become fashion accessories, status symbols and personal health monitors. Celebrities wear them to optimise sleep and recovery. Elite athletes use them to fine-tune performance. The promise is enticing: unprecedented access to what’s happening inside your body.
The market reflects that demand. According to Mordor Intelligence, India’s smart wearables market is projected to grow from US$3.62 billion in 2026 to US$10.26 billion by 2031. But clinical evidence doesn’t advance at the same pace as sensors, and wearables often measure far more than doctors know how to interpret. As they evolve, the question is no longer how much data they can collect. It’s which numbers are actually worth paying attention to.
The New Metric
For Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, one of the most important pieces of training equipment isn’t a bat or a pair of shoes. It’s a plain brown band strapped to his wrist.
Unlike a smartwatch, the WHOOP band has no screen. It doesn’t show notifications or even tell the time. Instead, it focuses almost entirely on recovery. By analysing metrics such as heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate and sleep, it generates a daily recovery score that helps users decide whether their body is ready for an intense workout or needs more rest.
Kohli isn’t alone. Former India captain M.S. Dhoni, fast bowler Mohammed Siraj and football star Cristiano Ronaldo have all been spotted wearing the device, reflecting a broader shift among elite athletes. Training harder is no longer enough. Recovery has become part of the performance equation.
Heart of the Matter
Heart-related metrics are also among the few wearable measurements backed by strong clinical evidence. Most premium smartwatches can continuously track heart rate, alert users to unusually high or low readings and, with a single touch, record a one-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Some can also detect irregular heart rhythms that may indicate atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most common heart rhythm disorder and a leading risk factor for stroke.
Cardiologists welcome the potential but urge caution. “The biggest misconception is that wearable devices can replace a cardiologist or provide a complete assessment of heart health,” says Dr. Bipeenchandra Bhamre, consultant cardiac surgeon at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai. “Any abnormal findings should always be confirmed with a medical-grade ECG and evaluation by a cardiologist.”
Rather than reacting to a single alert, he recommends paying attention to long-term trends. Persistently abnormal resting heart rates, repeated irregular rhythm notifications or abnormal ECG recordings are worth discussing with a doctor. An isolated notification, however, is rarely meaningful on its own, particularly in the absence of symptoms such as dizziness, chest discomfort or palpitations.
The Sleep Economy
If recovery has become a performance metric, sleep has become a status symbol.
Actor Alia Bhatt has been spotted wearing an Oura Ring, the discreet smart ring that has become a favourite among celebrities who want health insights without the appearance of wearing technology. Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston and Prince Harry have also been associated with the device, helping transform the smart ring into the wearable of choice for the A-list.
Oura places sleep and recovery at the centre of its experience. It estimates sleep duration, time spent in different sleep stages and overnight skin temperature trends, combining these with measures such as resting heart rate and heart rate variability into a Readiness Score designed to indicate how well your body has recovered and whether it’s prepared for the day ahead.
The appeal is obvious, as are the limitations. “Wearables can provide a useful estimate of sleep duration and long-term trends, but they are not as accurate as clinical sleep studies for diagnosing sleep disorders. Their sleep apnea alerts or oxygen readings should be considered screening tools and always confirmed with a medical evaluation,” says Dr. Arvind Kate, pulmonologist and chest physician at Zen Multi-Speciality Hospital, Mumbai.
That distinction matters because wearables are far better at estimating total sleep than determining what kind of sleep you’re actually getting. A 2025 study comparing six popular wearables — including Apple Watch, WHOOP and Fitbit — with polysomnography, the gold standard for sleep assessment, found that while they estimated total sleep reasonably well, they were much less reliable at detecting wakefulness and accurately classifying sleep stages.
The Glucose Obsession
Few wellness devices have spread as quickly as continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Once used almost exclusively by people with diabetes, CGMs measure glucose levels around the clock through a tiny sensor inserted beneath the skin. They have also become popular among athletes, wellness influencers and celebrities. Actor Gwyneth Paltrow has publicly discussed using CGMs, while singer Nick Jonas has long advocated glucose monitoring as part of living with Type 1 diabetes.
The contrast illustrates two very different reasons for wearing the same device. For Jonas, glucose monitoring is a medical necessity. For many non-diabetic users, it’s become a tool for optimisation. People without diabetes are increasingly using CGMs to tweak their diets, improve athletic performance or avoid the glucose “spikes” popularised on social media.
Endocrinologists are far less convinced. “CGMs are most beneficial for people with diabetes, prediabetes, those at high risk of developing diabetes, and individuals requiring close glucose monitoring. For healthy people without risk factors, routine CGM use offers limited clinical benefit,” says Dr. Sneha Kothari, endocrinologist at Gleneagles Hospital, Parel, Mumbai.
She frequently sees healthy adults becoming anxious over perfectly normal fluctuations after meals. In reality, blood sugar is meant to rise and fall throughout the day. A 2025 study of healthy young adults wearing CGMs found that glucose levels naturally fluctuated in response to meals, physical activity and psychological stress. Like heart rate and sleep, glucose data can reveal meaningful long-term patterns. But it doesn’t replace clinical judgement.
What’s Next for Wearables
Today’s wearables monitor health. Tomorrow’s may predict it. Researchers are developing wearables that could measure blood pressure without a cuff, detect dehydration, track ketone levels, and potentially identify early signs of insulin resistance. The goal is no longer just to tell us what’s happening inside the body, but to predict what might happen next.
One of the industry’s biggest ambitions is developing a reliable non-invasive glucose monitor. Technology companies have spent years chasing that goal, though creating a device that’s consistently accurate remains a formidable challenge.
However, the biggest advances may come not from new sensors, but from making better sense of the data wearables already collect. Companies are increasingly using AI to combine heart rate, skin temperature, sleep and respiratory data into personalised health insights that may one day help detect illness before symptoms appear.
Even so, these innovations won’t necessarily make healthier people. Better technology doesn’t automatically lead to better decisions.
When former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was photographed earlier this year wearing not one but three wearables — an Apple Watch, an Oura Ring and a WHOOP band — at multiple events, it sparked curiosity far beyond the political beat. Why would anyone need three devices tracking them at once? The photograph somehow captured the larger shift. The value isn’t in tracking everything. It’s in knowing which numbers actually change what you do next.
Who’s Wearing What?
WHOOP
Best for: Recovery, sleep, heart rate variability, and training strain
Seen on: Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni, LeBron James, Michael Phelps, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohammed Siraj
Oura Ring
Best for: Sleep, readiness, recovery and body temperature trends
Seen on: Alia Bhatt, Prince Harry, Will Smith, Chris Hemsworth
Apple Watch
Best for: Heart health, ECG, activity tracking and everyday wellness
Seen on: Mamata Banerjee, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Garner
Fitbit
Best for: Activity tracking, heart rate, sleep and overall fitness
Seen on: Stephen Curry
Temple
Best for: Tracking cerebral blood flow and brain activity (experimental)
Seen on: Sonam Kapoor Ahuja
Why Celebrities Choose Wearables
● No screens. No notifications. Just health data.
● Jewellery, not gadgets. Smart rings blend seamlessly with everyday style.
● Made for 24/7 wear. From film sets to sleep.
● Recovery is the new wellness flex. Sleep, readiness and recovery scores have replaced step counts.