So let's dig deeper and see what you can learn from your wearable data.
In this article, I will focus on some of the most popular devices in the market: Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin and Oura Ring.
Usually, the first question may think of where all the data has gone. Now I'll show you one by one.
Apple watch
The beauty of Apple Watch is that it is deeply integrated with the iOS system and automatically stores all data in the health application of the mobile phone.
The health application is very cool because it is a private database that only you can access. Other applications that want to view data need your permission. However, it is obvious that this application is a storage application, and it is not intended to provide analysis, explanation and suggestions.
Usually, Apple will rely on third-party applications to do this for you.
The health application on iPhone is a real database. Not only will your iPhone and Apple Watch store data there, but most third-party health and fitness applications will also store data there.
Fitbit
Fitbit does not embed its own data into the operating system because it is a third-party device and application.
This means that it must synchronize the data to the Fitbit application on your device, and then the Fitbit application sends the data to the Fitbit server for analysis. It works well, but sometimes manual intervention is needed to ensure that all data are synchronized.
Fitbit has done a good job in this application. It has a customizable dashboard with many explanations of data, but these explanations do not constitute suggestions for users. At the same time, it has a wide range of APIs and SDK, which can be used to create applications connected with Fitbit.
The Fitbit application stores all the data in your device and provides useful tools to interact with it, such as simple challenges and notifications.
Garmin
Garmin has a long and glorious history in the early days of portable GPS equipment and adventure equipment. It recently launched consumer products in the Vivosmart family and began to directly target Fitbit and other products.
Its concept, price, battery life and overall experience can be compared with Fitbit.
Garmin may have advantages in function and content depth, but Fitbit is definitely the best in user experience. One of the benefits is that Garmin does synchronize most of the data into Apple's Healthkit data store, making it easier for other applications to enjoy and access.
Garmin contains a lot of data and functions, including VO2Max and even SpO2 measurement. This app imitates Fitbit's leading classified products, but it lacks the user experience.
Euler ring
This is the minimalist's choice of wearable devices.
If the basic model of Fitbit is a read-only device, Oura takes it to another level-no screen, buttons or any UX. It's just a ring with many sensors.
In addition to the most common points, there are skin thermometers. Obviously, because the finger skin is thin and the position is relatively stable, it is a very good choice to sense through the finger.
Of course, they do have an application that can read, analyze and display data. Some of them can be synchronized to Apple's Healthkit for enjoyment, and there are new cloud APIs that can be directly integrated.
By synchronizing data from Oura to the application, you can get a lot of things worth exploring. Compared with other applications, the overall feeling is very scientific.
So, now that we know where to find all these data, let's see what we can learn from them. If you don't want to be uninterested in all these data, then you can try an application like Healthzilla to do it for you and tell you what to do.
It all happened in your body. They can be used as indicators of your health and fitness, and also as a response to your daily activities. Usually, cheaper trackers don't include these functions because it requires more expensive sensors. When you are looking for a new equipment, this is very worthy of your consideration!
heart rate
Most people are satisfied with the heart rate data, and can at least roughly judge what is normal and what is high.
Perhaps a more interesting usage is to analyze your exercises. How hard you run and how much time you spend in the highest heart rate range. Obviously, you don't want to draw a red line for your engine all day. As time goes on, you may begin to find that you can run faster and longer while maintaining the same heart rate range. This is progress!
Note: The latest Apple Watch is also equipped with a new sensor called electrocardiogram (ECG), which is currently only used by American users. Basically, this is a more accurate method to measure heart rate, and irregular situations can be found. Apple and Stanford jointly published a study to explore what it can do in this regard.
Resting heart rate ("RHR")
These data are much more important than your real-time heart rate. What is the difference?
RHR shows how much work your heart needs to do when you relax. This is not exactly the same as your lowest heart rate when you sleep.
RHR is important because it can roughly measure your nervous system activity, hormone level and cardiovascular health. Research shows that the lower the RHR, the longer the life.
So what is a normal RHR? These norms are actually a statistical definition, that is, within a certain range, it doesn't say what is good. But for healthy athletes, you definitely want RHR below 70, so is this value too low? The answer is yes, usually at the age of 40, you may start to encounter problems.
It is also worth noting that this situation has been changing.
For example, if you often drink or get sick, RHR will become very high, because it represents the physical load of the cardiovascular system, and RHR will soon be displayed.
What should I do with this information?
Getting into the habit of checking every morning can tell you a lot about what your day will be like. Should I go to the gym or go to bed? Should I go out again or go to bed early? The peak may also indicate that you are going to be sick. Trying to relax can prevent colds.
So how to reduce RHR?
The answer is exercise, with emphasis on stroke output and cardiac output.
Heart rate variability (HRV)
We know that your heart rate is your pulse, how many times per minute.
In fact, the rhythm of every minute is not stable, and there are subtle changes between everyone. Some are shorter and some are longer.
This is some of the most interesting new data because HRV is actually the representative of the central nervous system.
Analyze this signal to show whether your body is in a state suitable for work or study, or in a state of rest and digestion. Of course, you don't want to be in an unnecessary work mode, which will bring stress to your body over time.
This is a very sensitive measure. It's always changing, and it's changing quickly. There are many ways to measure it, but the current standard measurement methods are rmssd and sdnn, which are two different statistical measurement methods for this variability.
Ideally, you can measure every 24 hours on average in many samples, or concentrate on a repeatable morning measurement before getting up.
So what is normal here? It is even more difficult to measure than RHR, because frankly speaking, there is not much research on HRV.
Devices for measuring heart rate such as Apple Watch have only been on the market for a few years. We know from the research of HRV (rmssd and sdnn) that if you are close to 0, it is not good. This means that your heart beats like a metronome, which is abnormal. You might want to see a doctor. If you are close to 100, that's good. It is difficult to judge between the two.
A popular HRV measurement application, HRV4Training, has done its own research on this.
What should I do with this information? Because it is more sensitive than RHR, the same advice applies.
It can measure the state of your body very accurately. Trends are more important than absolute numbers. If it's much lower than usual, relax. Maybe go for a walk instead of running. If you are above, go out and conquer the world.
The higher the value, the better. Studies show that stretching, some temporary changes, some results of lifestyle intervention, including diet and meditation, and some anecdotal evidence show that different stressors, such as cold shower and sauna, can improve your HRV.
I believe we will see more research on HRV in the future.
maximal oxygen uptake
VO2Max is the best in simply measuring cardiovascular health.
It tells you how fast your body processes oxygen. The more oxygen you inhale every second, the more oxygen your muscles can absorb, and you can run faster and longer. If you don't see this type of data from your device, it may mean that you need to run it several times before the device can read the data.
What should I do with this information? Besides RHR, it will also tell you about your cardiovascular health. You will want more, because all organs except your muscles and brain are using the same system. Usually more aerobic exercise is needed.
These are all things that affect health. What you do either promotes health or harms it.
Sleep quality
Not all devices can be used out of the box, including Apple Watch. In this case, you can check the functions and data provided by third-party applications, especially if you want to measure sleep quality, not just time.
We all know what this is, and we all remember mom complaining about not going to bed early. Is there anything new here? Yes, more and more convincing research shows that your mother is right. Long-term lack of high-quality sleep is harmful to you in many ways.
How do you measure sleep quality? Do you need to sleep soundly?
In fact, there are three stages of sleep, and you need them all: shallow sleep, rapid eye movement and deep sleep. Rapid eye movement is the stage of dreaming. Rapid eye movement can also promote memory retention. Deep sleep is money sleep, which can promote physical recovery and make you feel energetic when you wake up.
So what is normal here?
Humans sleep 8 hours a day, or 33%. If we consider the evolutionary cost of sleep, it must be very important to lie unconscious at night. Although the quality of sleep varies from person to person, the most obvious measure is whether you wake up refreshed.
No one can stay in good shape after 5 hours' sleep, and some public people who support low sleep, such as Ronald? Reagan and Margaret? Thatcher suffered from Alzheimer's disease in her later years, so don't bet on her mental health.
Studies have shown that sleep can affect brain health, digestion, recovery and productivity.
This is the simplest, cheapest and fastest way to improve health. It is worth noting that this interesting study also shows that sleeping for more than 9 hours is not necessarily healthy. It is best to stay in the best condition within 7 to 8 hours.
So, more time may be more than just sleeping in bed for a few hours. At least for most people, the problem is that quality is greater than quantity. Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep, but to make full use of this time, you need plenty of rapid eye movement and deep sleep, during which you wake up the least.
Common methods include eliminating all light sources, turning off electronic equipment, reducing room temperature and proper pillow size. Besides, you should avoid watching TV, Netflix, Instagram, exercising and even stretching before going to bed. Instead, you can try meditation or breathing to keep your body relaxed and calm.
do gymnastics
Most equipment plays an important role between activity and exercise. Exercise is like a brisk walk. Your pulse is getting faster and faster, and the accelerometer is getting faster and faster, which means you are exercising. Can it take the place of exercise? Unfortunately, no. Climbing a few flights of stairs and taking a five-second bus ride won't get you out of the gym.
As far as you can do, it is cheap and quick to increase your chances of health and longevity, and exercise is there. Really, it couldn't be better.
Studies have shown that exercise can reverse many aging symptoms, partly by changing the expression of hundreds of genes. This is really the magic pill you are looking for! Some of the latest generation devices can automatically identify and record exercises.
There are several standards to measure which kind of exercise is ideal. Of course, it is also possible to exercise too much. According to this study, aerobic exercise and resistance training have specific benefits to life, so it is ideal to do both, and the intensity depends on your initial state.
What should I do with this information? The best thing you can do is to give feedback from your biometric data to guide your weekly exercise.
When your RHR or HRV is not working, maybe go for a walk. When everything is normal, run intermittently or carry out weight-bearing cycles. Then you will know that you have done enough, but not too much. This will of course change over time, because your body can bear more.
Tips:
1. Wearable devices generate much more data than you think.
If you haven't, you should, because this technology is quite reliable.
You can also use these data points to measure what is effective for your diet and exercise, and make adjustments so that your data will get better over time.
In order to fully understand your health, you still need a blood test and talk to your doctor.