Expanding my Digital Bio Dashboard

Over the past weeks, I have started and continued a variety of services to gather as much data about my body as I can (link to other blog post). The main data sources so far come from Whoop, InsideTracker, and January.

Whoop

The Whoop wearable recently has become popular with athletes and health-focused people. I have been using mine since May of 2020. For the most part, I am a raving fan. When I am training for an endurance race and have excellent fitness and health habits, Whoop is like a best friend, guiding me toward my goal. When I have weeks or months when my wellness practices decline, Whoop is a nagging reminder that I am treating my body poorly. That said, Whoop is overall a positive motivation to optimize my well-being, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking more ownership of well-being.

The personalized recommendations are the most rewarding features of Whoop. Each person has distinct biological markers based on genetics and lifestyle, and Whoop's algorithms account for the uniqueness of each user’s data. One important metric that Whoop provides is Heart Rate Variability (HRV), an important indicator of the quality of sleep and heart health. Typically, my HRV is around 50, but some people have average HRVs closer to 100 or even below 50. Whoop gives me sleep scores based on my personal average, not everyone's average. Below are some examples of the digital dashboard Whoop provides:

Both the activity (“strain”) and sleep (“recovery”) data add immense value toward planning my training intensity. Finding the right balance of exercise and rest is critical to progress toward goals efficiently in any sport, especially endurance sports. Whoop’s data will tell me each day if my body is prepared for a big workout or if more rest is needed. By using Whoop to strike that balance on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, my body is primed to excel for a 3-hour or longer race.

In October of 2021, I completed the Ironman Waco 70.3, my most challenging endurance race so far. Finishing with a time of 5 hours, 18 minutes and placing 9th in my age group was an exciting accomplishment for my first long-distance triathlon. Whoop was a huge reason that I felt prepared and strong for the entire race and will continue to be a foundational tool for my training.

InsideTracker

InsideTracker is a new part of my toolkit to understand my body. Importantly, InsideTracker should not act as your doctor as a registered physician always must be consulted on significant lifestyle and health changes.

The company's website calls the service an "ultra-personalized nutrition system that analyzes data from your blood, DNA, and habits" that can "transform your body's data into science-backed action plans." The core of InsideTracker is a blood test that measures 43 blood biomarkers. The actual blood draw is done through a separate lab, Quest Diagnostics, but InsideTracker analyzes the data provided, packaging the insights into a user-friendly dashboard. Each blood marker is labeled as either Green (within healthy range), Yellow (needs improvement), or Red (of concern). Below is an example of the dashboard provided with biomarker and health behavior recommendations:

In three months, I will follow-up with another round of blood testing to see if I can improve these markers over time. I am excited to track how a healthier diet and lifestyle can impact this data and my personal energy. Soon, I will also have InsideTracker's DNA data to provide even more granular analysis on how my genetics may impact my health. Genetic testing will be a topic covered in-depth on a future 8th Summit post.

January

January is another wearable tracking tool I started using this month. January leverages data from a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), the device typically used by diabetics to manage blood sugar. You may ask—why would a non-diabetic want to use a CGM? What most people don't know is that continuously monitoring our blood glucose level is a powerful health indicator. Blood glucose naturally goes up and down throughout the day as we eat, exercise, and sleep, but avoiding huge upward spikes or downward valleys in our blood glucose can help to prevent health problems and maintain high energy levels.  

See this article by Dr. Peter Attia on his advocacy for using CGM as a non-diabetic. Dr. Peter Attia’s “The Drive” podcast also has many helpful interviews that discuss this topic, and the podcast generally is an excellent source of detailed health information.

Learning how different foods affect my blood glucose has been a helpful experience. Notably, I have found it much easier to stick to a healthy diet after starting the January program. This dynamic is known in science as the Hawthorne Effect, which shows that people change their behavior in a study because they know they are being observed. I have much less of an internal struggle to choose a salad for lunch when I know that choice will result in great CGM data. If you want a healthy diet to be a primary focus in your life, a CGM could be an ideal tool to try. See an example of the January dashboard:

To be frank, I have had some technical difficulties using the January iOS App. January is a very new startup and the service could mature into an awesome tool in the future, but for now the company has some user issues to work out. In the future, I am looking forward to trying other CGM providers like NutriSense, Levels, or Supersapiens.