What are you measuring and working on and what results are you seeing?
You are all interested in human optimisation from a physiological perspective to a neurological aspect. The Neuro Athletics community to built at the intersection of neuroscience and performance.
This inaugural Thursday thread just one of the small ways we’re trying to get to know you, and offer you a chance to get to know others in our growing community.
I would love to know what you measure in terms of healthy. Do you use a WHOOP or an Oura? What tracking devices do you use for sleep if any?
In terms of results, it would be great to get to know how you track and analyse your results also. There is so much information out there and having real life anecdotes from the community will help guide buying decisions as health tech is becoming very interesting.
I will be on this thread for the next HOUR so feel free to ask any questions!
Feel free to write whatever comes to mind and also engage with the community. I am hoping we can keep this going every Thursday.
I have not gotten a Whoop/Oura as I'm not sure if finding out the results of my REM sleep % will actually make me more stressed and worsen my sleep. I follow proper sleep hygiene, but somehow just don't get quality sleep I feel. not sure if knowing the exact % will actually help?
I use AutoSleep app with the Apple Watch. The readiness score which combines waking HRV and pulse is a remarkably accurate indicator of how ‘fresh’ I feel. It’s not the most reliable of setups because some nights (once a week) it fails to track anything.
I use a whoop with a Chilipad. Will upgrade to Eight Sleep when I settle into a full apartment.
I find it pretty good for tracking at the extremes. I mainly look at HRV and the long run trend on RHR. One thing I’ve noticed is neither HRV nor my whoop recovery score map as well to cognitive sharpness as physical performance. I had a 71% recovery today and feel physically great but mentally sharp and not fully refreshed.
We did a great post about this and why you may feel physically great but your mind might not feel the est. It is good to also go old school and look at what you ate, what time you actually went to bed and your % of REM and DEEP sleep. These are the two metrics I use with my athletes and investors to predict if they will/ will not make a good decision that day. Also consistency counts- how many days in a row did you get a good quality sleep rather then basing your judgement on one good nights sleep.
Thank you. I will look into that. Now that you point it out, I did get far less REM that night than normal. I typically register 3 hours of REM on whoop on a good night. As an aside, that seems on the higher end to what I've researched.
I’ve been using an Oura, love it! I’ve really been focusing on sleep, helps me to see what works and what doesn’t; tracking both REM/DEEP, not to mention HRV. I also love that I can place it in airplane mode when I sleep.
Ideally 15-25% REM, sure I’d love to see it in the higher ranges, but that I hope will come in time. I’ve suffered with really poor sleep so I’m happy when I see 1.5 hrs at least as this is a huge improvement for me, 2.5 ideally. DEEP has even been more challenging, but I’ve improved that considerably from 2-8-15 min night to sometimes 6-18 fold. Of course, some nights like last night, I regress.
I really like this question. I am going to dig deep into this in a blog/ podcast episode however let's break it down a bit here. Most of the negative effects of EMFs are directly related to excess amounts of calcium in your cells. On the outer layers of your cells sits cellular pumps called voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs).
I found this from WHOOP:
WHOOP does give off EMF, but at very low levels - we do so at irregular intervals, so it's not continuously transmitting. The absorption of power by the human body from a WHOOP is 0.31W/kg. You can find the full Bluetooth reports on the FCC's website here: https://bit.ly/30qkEyR
I am using a Galaxy Active 2 to track my sleep. I find it to be unreliable in terms of the quality of sleep it tracks. For example, it says I have not experienced any deep sleep in more than 90 days. I very pretty much decided that data is unreliable, and instead just focus on eating the 7 hour target I have set for myself. Any suggestions?
Hey Rob, so nice to hear from you. I have never used the Galaxy. I currently use WHOOP, Oura and Eight sleep (I do this because I write about it, no need to invest in all of these). I find that the most predictable one is the Oura ring because it stays on my finger and doesn't move around. Also, I read somewhere (I will find the source) that you get a better measurement with the pulse in the finger rather then on the wrist so thats why I prefer it over any watches/ straps.
I will check it out. I work with a trainer three times a week and use it to measure cardio as well. If Oura can do that in real time, that might be the answer to my quest for better data! Appreciate it.
I have not gotten a Whoop/Oura as I'm not sure if finding out the results of my REM sleep % will actually make me more stressed and worsen my sleep. I follow proper sleep hygiene, but somehow just don't get quality sleep I feel. not sure if knowing the exact % will actually help?
I use AutoSleep app with the Apple Watch. The readiness score which combines waking HRV and pulse is a remarkably accurate indicator of how ‘fresh’ I feel. It’s not the most reliable of setups because some nights (once a week) it fails to track anything.
I use a whoop with a Chilipad. Will upgrade to Eight Sleep when I settle into a full apartment.
I find it pretty good for tracking at the extremes. I mainly look at HRV and the long run trend on RHR. One thing I’ve noticed is neither HRV nor my whoop recovery score map as well to cognitive sharpness as physical performance. I had a 71% recovery today and feel physically great but mentally sharp and not fully refreshed.
We did a great post about this and why you may feel physically great but your mind might not feel the est. It is good to also go old school and look at what you ate, what time you actually went to bed and your % of REM and DEEP sleep. These are the two metrics I use with my athletes and investors to predict if they will/ will not make a good decision that day. Also consistency counts- how many days in a row did you get a good quality sleep rather then basing your judgement on one good nights sleep.
Thank you. I will look into that. Now that you point it out, I did get far less REM that night than normal. I typically register 3 hours of REM on whoop on a good night. As an aside, that seems on the higher end to what I've researched.
I’ve been using an Oura, love it! I’ve really been focusing on sleep, helps me to see what works and what doesn’t; tracking both REM/DEEP, not to mention HRV. I also love that I can place it in airplane mode when I sleep.
I love the fact that you can turn it on airplane mode also! What do you aim to get for REM as a %?
Ideally 15-25% REM, sure I’d love to see it in the higher ranges, but that I hope will come in time. I’ve suffered with really poor sleep so I’m happy when I see 1.5 hrs at least as this is a huge improvement for me, 2.5 ideally. DEEP has even been more challenging, but I’ve improved that considerably from 2-8-15 min night to sometimes 6-18 fold. Of course, some nights like last night, I regress.
I don't use a sleep tracking device due to concerns over EMFs. Is that a legit concern?
I really like this question. I am going to dig deep into this in a blog/ podcast episode however let's break it down a bit here. Most of the negative effects of EMFs are directly related to excess amounts of calcium in your cells. On the outer layers of your cells sits cellular pumps called voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs).
I found this from WHOOP:
WHOOP does give off EMF, but at very low levels - we do so at irregular intervals, so it's not continuously transmitting. The absorption of power by the human body from a WHOOP is 0.31W/kg. You can find the full Bluetooth reports on the FCC's website here: https://bit.ly/30qkEyR
I am using a Galaxy Active 2 to track my sleep. I find it to be unreliable in terms of the quality of sleep it tracks. For example, it says I have not experienced any deep sleep in more than 90 days. I very pretty much decided that data is unreliable, and instead just focus on eating the 7 hour target I have set for myself. Any suggestions?
Hey Rob, so nice to hear from you. I have never used the Galaxy. I currently use WHOOP, Oura and Eight sleep (I do this because I write about it, no need to invest in all of these). I find that the most predictable one is the Oura ring because it stays on my finger and doesn't move around. Also, I read somewhere (I will find the source) that you get a better measurement with the pulse in the finger rather then on the wrist so thats why I prefer it over any watches/ straps.
I will check it out. I work with a trainer three times a week and use it to measure cardio as well. If Oura can do that in real time, that might be the answer to my quest for better data! Appreciate it.