Hey all,
Just curious if there would be interest in discussing health data. I’m not a super biohacker but over the past couple years, since I got a Fitbit Charge 3 on sale at Costco, I’ve been accumulating data and adjusting (not very scientifically) my lifestyle for better health. I’m not a competitive athlete, so I don’t care to be faster or stronger than anyone except myself the day before. My goal is longevity, which I define as living as long as possible while maintaining mobility, strength, cognition, overall sense of well-being, and avoiding disease (I have family with neuro-degenerative disease).
Here’s what I’ve been tracking as of late:
Heart rate (Fitbit)
- During exercise and at rest
Sleep (Fitbit)
Weight (Fitbit)
- Mainly trying to keep my weight up, as I have a tendency to lose weight
Activity (Fitbit, Strava for outdoor runs and rides, Wahoo for indoor cycling on my Snap)
- My current goal is 4 days per week, 45 minutes, at a low-to-medium intensity (HR of 140-150bpm)
Blood Glucose and Ketones (Keto-Mojo)
Intermittent Fasting (Zero)
- Nothing too interesting yet, just trying to fast for 12-14hrs per day and avoiding eating within 3hrs before bedtime
What do you all track, and what insights have you gained from the data?
Hi @thomaslee i use a separate app for Health Data, gave up on Garmin and all the rest tbh, it’s called HRV4Training but I connect all training to it through Strava so that’s my running/cycling/strength and yoga. I don’t worry so much about my weight as it hasn’t changed in nearly 30 years I’ve always been around 8 to 8.5 stone. The HRV app measures my HRV and HR as soon as I wake up each morning and it also asks me if I slept good how long I slept, do my muscles ache, do I feel fatigued and how heavy was yesterday’s workout. After about a week the app creates a baseline for both your HRV and HR and also takes into account mental health, travel and if you had any alcohol too. I find it much better than the data coming from any sports watch. I’ve also started using a Brain App to help with training too called Rewire which measures brain activity in the morning and can help with focus exercises pre/post or as standalone before workouts.
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+1 for HRV4TRaining. I take a reading each morning with my Apple watch and drag the subjective “scores” as to how I feel. Helps me keep a “diary” of how I’m feeling rather than just relying on numbers.
I try not to get lost in data but other apps I have that are good to see trends are Heartwatch and Autosleep. I recently injured my shoulder and underwent surgery. Heartwatch shows a pyramidal increase and then return to normal of my sleep HR over a 12 week period - quite dramatic.
Strava - more for club ride routes etc but do look at fitness/ fatigue etc
Garmin connect - just because I have an Edge 830.
Zero - big fan of intermittent fasting but when I’m training hard I battle to get the calories in when I’m 16:8 fasting so that app pretty much just sits on my phone now.
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Thanks for the replies!
I’m interested in HRV4Training. I don’t have an Apple Watch but I see it can use your phone’s camera. That’s pretty cool tech. Is it as accurate as using a Watch? Does it work with an HRM like Wahoo Tickr?
Could you give an example of how tracking HRV helps you? Are there guidelines for thresholds such as, “If my HRV is off by X, I should do Y (type of training, eating, supplementing, etc.) instead of Z (originally planned activity)”?
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Hi @thomaslee you can use it with a HR Strap but when i used it in conjunction with my iPad it sometimes found it hard to pick up the signal. The iPhone seems to work fine with it. You do it first thing in the morning when you wake up. It will take about a week to find your baseline but after that you’ll get today’s is a good day to train, your HRV or HR are a bit high or outside your baseline so take it easy or your HRV and HR are both very high have a rest today. It also takes into account if your injured or if you travelled the previous day or drank alcohol. The one thing you need to do is be truthful about how you feel ie muscles sore, do you feel fatigued.
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