These days, bracelets and watches are more than simple wrist decorations.

They can do just about anything: tell you how many steps you walk in a day, how fast your heart is beating, and now they can save you the trouble of whipping out your credit card to make a purchase.

At least, that’s the hope of the Royal Bank of Canada, which is teaming up with Toronto-based technology company Bionym for a trial of 250 wristbands on its clients and employees.

The wristband measures the unique electrocardiogram (ECG) of the wearer to verify her or his identity wirelessly and authorize credit card payments without the “hassle” of entering a PIN or pressing any buttons.

The wearer activates the ECG sensor on the wristband by touching a finger from the opposite hand on the top of it. The software for the band is designed to verify the shape of the ECG wave, not heart rate, so it’s supposed to be much more secure. The ECG needs to be re-verified every time the device is removed and replaced.

The payment option pilot runs until February. After that, RBC plans to eventually roll out the wristband payment option across Canada.

The idea is to be able to grab a coffee or groceries without packing your wallet or even your smartphone (some of which have wireless and paperless payment options too), but save for a select group of technology junkies, I’m not sure people are going to be lining up to purchase yet another gadget that does only one thing. I think the trend is going toward gadgets that can do everything, but seeing as there are already 9,300 pre-orders for the Nymi, maybe they are on to something.

If a heart rate tracker is more attractive to you than a bracelet that can spend your money, perhaps a member of the popular and sleek family of Fitbit wristbands is for you.

These little bracelets have trackers for several health metrics, including a pedometer to count steps and a tracker for sleep that measures how long you sleep for and how many times you wake up in a night.

It’s also got a silent alarm to help you wake up on time without disturbing others.

All of the statistics sync wirelessly to a smartphone app or computer program. You can get a glance of them on the program’s dashboard and see your overall progress, or you can look at a specific metric and establish where you’re at on your journey to better sleep, weight management or more movement.

For a couple hundred bucks (assuming you already have a smartphone or computer), you can see it all laid out there for you without having to keep track of any of it yourself the old-fashioned way: by keeping a hand-written fitness log or sleep journal.

Accountability is one of the biggest motivators for people looking for ways to improve their health. When you see the naked truth in those numbers, you see where you need to make adjustments to be in better balance.

I know first-hand how addictive seeing these metrics can really be, as each time I step out the door wearing my Garmin GPS watch, I have a new goal in mind based on previous excursions.

As the weather turns chillier and the lure of sweatpants and a fleece blanket seems almost irresistible, any and all encouragement to get up and get moving is positive reinforcement.

And few things get us moving in the cold like cold, hard numbers.