[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” publish_date=”” class=”” id=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_blend_mode=”none” video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” border_radius=”” box_shadow=”no” dimension_box_shadow=”” box_shadow_blur=”0″ box_shadow_spread=”0″ box_shadow_color=”” box_shadow_style=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” background_type=”single” gradient_start_color=”” gradient_end_color=”” gradient_start_position=”0″ gradient_end_position=”100″ gradient_type=”linear” radial_direction=”center” linear_angle=”180″ background_color=”” background_image=”” background_image_id=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_blend_mode=”none” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” filter_type=”regular” filter_hue=”0″ filter_saturation=”100″ filter_brightness=”100″ filter_contrast=”100″ filter_invert=”0″ filter_sepia=”0″ filter_opacity=”100″ filter_blur=”0″ filter_hue_hover=”0″ filter_saturation_hover=”100″ filter_brightness_hover=”100″ filter_contrast_hover=”100″ filter_invert_hover=”0″ filter_sepia_hover=”0″ filter_opacity_hover=”100″ filter_blur_hover=”0″ last=”no”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]
I am in a unique position.
I work as a technology consultant during the day and fitness trainer in the evening. Managing a growing career in Corporate America plus building one in fitness can bring stress from time to time. I hope you picked up on my dry humor because what I meant is that it’s extremely stressful and I’m constantly pulled in multiple directions. It was time to look into some sort of Fitness Technology (or Fit-Tech) solution that could help me optimize my body. In my experience in the technology world, I went back to the question I ask my clients whenever we start a new project.
“What is the outcome you’re looking for?”
For me, sleep was an area I needed to focus and improve on. I believe that you can only manage what you measure. I wanted to know if I was getting the quality sleep my body needed but how do you measure that?
Sleep can be measured in many ways. You can go to a sleep center where you’ll have electrodes attached to your head to monitor the electrical activity in your brain. That’s one option but maybe a little too much and not something I can monitor on a weekly or daily basis. Another route would be by monitoring your heart rate variability (HRV).
According to a Harvard Medical School publication, “HRV is simply a measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat. This variation is controlled by a primitive part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It works regardless of our desire and regulates, among other things, our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion. The ANS is subdivided into two large components, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the fight-or-flight mechanism and the relaxation response.
The brain is constantly processing information in a region called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus, through the ANS, sends signals to the rest of the body either to stimulate or to relax different functions. It responds not only to a poor night of sleep, or that sour interaction with your boss, but also to the exciting news that you got engaged, or to that delicious healthy meal you had for lunch. Our body handles all kinds of stimuli and life goes on. However, if we have persistent instigators such as stress, poor sleep, unhealthy diet, dysfunctional relationships, isolation or solitude, and lack of exercise, this balance may be disrupted, and your fight-or-flight response can shift into overdrive.”
In so many words, HRV is the pattern between each heart beat. If you’re HRV is high, your body is signaling that it is ready to take on stress. If you’re HRV is low, your body is signaling that it is not completely ready from the recent or chronic stress you may be in. This was extremely helpful to learn as I wanted to incorporate a meditation practice in my life. Depending on the day, I would take a break from work and meditate outside or if I’m able, take a nap. Knowing my physiological signals through HRV empowered me to say, “Your body needs this.”
The next step after learning about HRV was to find a company that would not only help me with monitoring HRV but was also validated. In the industry of fitness and technology, there are new companies coming out with products that say they can do this or that. The issue was finding one that was legit and had an existing user base. I found companies that use pads that you put in your bed, jewelry you would wear, and then I came across a strap.
The strap was made from a company called Whoop. What I liked from the start was that this strap didn’t require to be worn across the chest like other products in the market but I still needed validation. What set Whoop apart from everyone else was the fact that they won the bid from the NFL as the Official Licensed Recovery Wearable. This meant that every player would be given a Whoop strap to monitor their sleep and recovery. That was the type of validation I was looking for and moved forward with a purchase. So what does this thing do?
Recovery Score:
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Every morning, I will wake up and begin my morning routine. Shortly after getting out of bed, I’ll receive a notification from my phone and get a recovery score (Above). The recovery score will be based off of HRV, resting heart rate, and strain.
Sleep Score:
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This is the area I spend the most time as it’ll break down my sleep cycles. This section will break down how much time I spend in the awake, light, REM, and deep stages of sleep. This is extremely important to me because I want to focus on REM and Deep. REM sleep is the time you’re dreaming and is the reset to your brain. Deep sleep is when your body is physically recovering so this is important for fitness enthusiast.
Whoop Live:
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This is a new feature that came out with Whoop 3.0 and has been cool to watch. It will provide your live heart rate, calories burned, and total strain for the day.
Summary:
To wrap this up, I go back to the initial question of “What is the outcome you’re looking for?” For me, I wanted to get better sleep. If you’re looking to just get a watch because everyone else does then that’s easy to pick from. If you’re looking to monitor and improve your sleep, I recommend looking at the companies out there and see what fits best for you. I’m placing my bets on Whoop due to the validation from the NFL contract. Something tells me this company isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
If you found this article valuable and you would like to try Whoop, you can visit their site at www.whoop.com to see their different styles and options. You can also receive your first month free by using the code “omarromero” at the checkout screen.
I hope you found this article valuable or at the very least learned something new.
Sleep well.
-Omar
References:
Harvard Medical School: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/heart-rate-variability-new-way-track-well-2017112212789
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