HOW I USE WHOOP TO MANAGE MY WELL-BEING

And how we can use data to improve our well-being.

Whether it's an Apple Watch, Whoop, Oura, Garmin, and so on - wearables have continued to grow in popularity and capability over the past decade. I've been wearing a Whoop watch for a couple of years now, and I am loving the data, insights, and coaching I get from it…especially when I'm traveling.?

The reason it works so well? Because I can't argue with my own data. The insights I glean from my daily, monthly, and annual dashboard - even if there's a slight margin of error on accuracy - are powerful drivers of my behaviors.

This month I wanted to share how I use my Whoop watch to dictate my workouts, my sleep habits, my work rhythms, and even how I think about and interact with stress on a daily basis, as well as a few tips on how to get the most from your wearable - or any other data tracking technique you might use.

Whoop - Here it is:

A quick overview of what I get from Whoop (no, I'm not paid by them and I don't get any freebies by writing this…I wish!):

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The reason I chose a Whoop over the over options out there is that Whoop is the most comprehensive set of data points available ?- but it's how they interpret and present your data/metrics on their dashboard that wins me over. I also love how they use them to suggest how hard you should work - or how hard you should recover - on any given day based on your baseline, which it gathers in the first few weeks of wearing the watch. This helps measure you growth over time - you vs you - and not against some standardized measure of “health” compared to others.

In other words, I don't just get a bunch of numbers - I get a translation of those numbers to actual guidance.?

The four main datasets I get each day are Sleep, Strain (how hard I worked that day), Recovery, and Stress. It takes readings from four main areas: Resting Heart Rate (RHR), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Respiratory Rate, and Sleep Performance. It measures rough estimates of skin temperature and blood oxygen levels as well.

The metrics that make up my Strain score are heart rate and muscular load - so it can read when I'm feeling stressed, when I'm running, when I'm walking, when I'm lifting weights, and when I'm yelling at my teenagers or a football game.

The metrics that make up Recovery can be impacted by stress, alcohol, caffeine, exercise, diet, illness, and more (I have actually seen my biometrics plummet the day before a cold came on or any symptoms appeared - it was pretty cool).?

None of these are 100% accurate - all of these are, in aggregate and over time, great measures of how hard I'm working, how well I'm recovering, and how well I manage my heart rate during the day.

Oh, and one more feature I do like, but don't use: every morning you can journal in what happened the day before (alcohol, illness, hard mental health day, your menstrual cycle, etc.) to help collect and notice trends over time which are presented in monthly, biannual, and annual reports. Very cool. Personally I don't use the journal because frankly I don't like playing around on screens first thing in the morning.

Here's an example of today's dash (this is a good day for me - great sleep, no travel, HRV is about my norm, and I'm slowly coming back from three week's worth of travel.?

How do I use this information daily?

Here's my favorite part:

Every morning, I get a “score” on the dashboard that combines these four areas and provides me a recommendation of how hard I should push it each day and/or focus on recovery…how hard to work in the gym, or not.?

Typically, I'll also get a recommendation on how high I should try to get my Strain levels in that little text box below the dashboard. This was snapped after a weight lifting session that wasn't particularly straining from a heart rate perspective - but I did lift heavy. I'll go for a walk later, and my strain will likely be a bit lower for the day in total.

By the way, you don't always WANT to be in the " green" as my above score today indicates (Green means go - work hard! Push! Yellow means pay attention, maybe a lighter workout day, etc. Red means pause, recover and rest…or one too many margaritas).

If I did a harder workout, like I did earlier this week (a 3.5 mile jog in hot temperatures), then I'd expect my day's strain to be high and the following day to be in the “yellow”…that's a good thing! That means I pushed my body to recommended strain levels to achieve growth (growth meaning stronger cardiovascular endurance, or stronger in the weight room, greater V02 max, etc…whatever your goals).

In other words, high strain and yellow is GREAT, and green days/good recovery is great too. Super hard, high strain days beyond your limits once in a while are also great - you want to dance between yellow and green, and the occasional red when maybe you overdid it.

It's not just about the gym...this is about my overall health

But even cooler than just monitoring how hard I should work in the gym??

The strain score also alerts me to higher stress days and how much they take a toll on my physical health as well as my mental health.

Why is this so important? Because a tough day mentally has a very similar impact on my body as a tough day in the gym - to see on a screen how much harder my heart has to work on stressful days at home or in the office in real time is an eye opening experience.?

For example, here's a day with NO workout and just a tough mental day for me. I was out of town, I was presenting a keynote, struggling with a personal issue, and mentally had way too much on my mind with some other upcoming business travel and prep needs.?

See the dashboard the morning of the event where I woke up in the green and look at how hard my body worked that day..with no workout. Then, see the following day where I was in the yellow…just from the stress of the previous day.

How I use this information when I travel.

This info becomes especially useful when I'm traveling for work. I typically don't sleep as well when I'm in hotels, and when I'm on a stage or leading a workshop, my strain tends to be much, much higher.?

Here is a snapshot of last week's travel - the 14th - 17th and then 20th - 25th.?

You can see that I was in the yellow almost every day, despite getting GREAT sleep (around 8 hours each night). I'm actually really happy not to be in the red at all and to even have some greens sprinkled in there - that was a huge win! I'll share how I achieved that in a minute:

Because of my ability to see my work and recovery in real time, I have adjusted my habits during work travel a bit and that's paid off in spades (obviously - I can see that right here in the image above). ?

A sea of greens and yellows, to me, translates to more energy, more focus, less stress, and more ability to meaningfully connect with the customers/audience during my travel.

This is HUGE from a business performance perspective, Think about it: how energized, confident, focused, and connected do you feel after a really, really bad night's sleep? Or a huge, greasy meal right before going on stage? Or a little too much caffeine? Or when you're super sore from a workout where you overdid it??

The Whoop guides my decisions on how to prioritize sleep, meals, and how hard to work in the gym when traveling. Typically, I'm getting lighter workouts, meditating at the end of each, prioritizing my sleep, eating a healthy meal in my hotel room, and spending a little less time working in the business (aka, maybe watching a show, reading a book, or going to sleep early, etc.).

Oh, and no alcohol - I'm in the red almost every time after a drink. Now, a margarita on a Friday evening on the dock with my husband is worth a yellow or red read; but for work, I try very hard to limit my consumption to none or one drink max for that reason.

Do you need more data in your life?

Maybe you don't need a wearable to tell you to work less hard and prioritize well-being on your work trips, but I do. I'm stubborn, I want to stay with my routine, and this data helps me remember that “peak performance" looks different when traveling. My capacity is reduced, therefore I need to adjust my behaviors.

Or maybe you don't need a wearable to tell you how hard to work in the gym - that's totally cool! But I do. I love data - it's a motivator. I push a little extra hard on green days, and I recover a little harder on yellow and red days. The trick is to find what motivates YOU.

The bottom line is that the Whoop has increased my mind/body connection. I'm more connected to how I feel, what working to capacity looks like and feels like on different days and in different life situations or environments, and I'm constantly reminded that negative stress can and does have a real impact - I've paused and walked away from overwhelm, high stress, anger, frustration, and so on too many times to count because I was reminded by this little dashboard that it wasn't worth my long term health.?

Insight to action.

How can you use this information?

No matter what, if at all, tech you might use - find a method and tool that works for you to measure your performance day in and day out.

Whether it's a sleep journal, pedometer, food tracker, mood journal, meditation/reflection time, group support, etc…find a way to get data on your own health journey. You won't regret the insights you gain…and I promise, it will inform your behavior for the better.