Sensors and wearables that monitor physiological data in fitness and healthcare applications are becoming more and more popular. More particularly the use of high signal-to-noise ratio Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) could represent a breakthrough in terms of enhanced detection capability and portability in many applications used for physiological signs monitoring such as Photopletysmography (PPG) and Continuous Wave Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (CW-fNIRS). Here we report on the performance of SiPMs optimized for the aforementioned applications through the integration of suitable optical filters for background light rejection. We will show how the use of the filters results also in a relevant impact on the detector's optical cross talk and dark current.