Personal Tracking Devices and Approaches
There are so many wearables and tools today that enable a level of bioinformation that just 20 years ago would have required hospitalization, extremely large instruments, or very invasive devices/sampling to achieve. Add to this what can be done with biofluid-based diagnostic testing and you can take self-quantification to a whole different level. I am resisting the urge to go down a lot of rabbit holes here, because this is where my professional career overlaps with my health hobbies. Contact me for more information if interested, but here are a few recommendations:
- Athletes, particularly endurance athletes, should give serious consideration to monitoring heart rate variability (HRV), which is a terrific guide to how well your body is recovering from previous workouts.
- Tracking actual heart rate during workouts, and figuring out your heartrate zones, is important for any cardiovascular training (see physical fitness page). Wrist or ring-based devices work well for resting heartrate, but nothing beats a chest strap while exercising.
- Track your sleep. Though your intuition may be a good judge here, you may have a few surprising findings and/or trends.
- Here are some podcasts that have a lot of shows focused on these topics, in order of most ‘layman’ to most technical:
If you really want to geek out on this, check out this paper on tracking devices.
Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs)
I’ve finally decided to get a CGM. Rather than me re-state everything I’ve learned, let me link you to the Levels website, which is the one I am using. They have tons of great information and lots of great articles such as this one:
For those who want even more tips and links to gadgets, see the resources sub-page, which will grow over time. Beware the possibility of going down a lot of rabbit holes though…