Lessons learned from using Whoop! strap

I really enjoyed the time I spent with the whoop strap. We sadly parted ways after 19 months of 24/7 interaction. I previously discussed how much data this device provides to you. In addition to providing data, I found the whoop strap gently nudging me to make healthier choices. While the app would offer suggestions with regard to bedtime, it was never intrusive. The true power of the device is in the data it collects, summarized and then presents to you very clearly. Objective data is very powerful. It is not theoretical. It clearly shows the effects of choices you make each day. The best way to study these lifestyle choices is by using the journal function. With only a few swipes on the app, whatever behaviors you are tracking can be logged each morning. A summary of the effects of these behaviors will show up monthly in the app. This objective data will result in lifestyle improvements. 

Here is what I learned. 

​Consistent Bed/Wake time is crucial for a good recovery.

The beneficial effect a given number of hours of sleep has on your recovery is not constant. Staying up later than normal, but then sleeping later in the morning would not reliably provide a good recovery. Based on this observation, I began maintaining  the same weekday bed and wake times over the weekend as much as possible. Not only were my recoveries better, but I felt better every day. Your body definitely prefers consistency.

Drinking alcohol ruins recovery.

While this may not come as much of a surprise to most people, alcohol is not a performance enhancing drug. A single drink will usually result in some combination of increased heart rate, increased respiratory rate, and decreased heart rate variability. Sleep quality is also somewhat disrupted. The whoop strap will detect these changes after a single drink. It is unusual to get a green recovery with only a single drink. Adding a second drink will almost guarantee a red recovery. Armed with this objective data, it is very easy to reduce alcohol consumption. 

​Whole, unprocessed foods lead to improved recovery. Veering off my usual low carb, high fat diet resulted in poorer recovery scores. I have written about this extensively elsewhere in this blog. 

Intermittent fasting improved my recovery scores. This reinforced what I had been doing for years and had written about earlier. 

Eating just before bed interferes with recovery, primarily by  interfering with sleep. 

Magnesium glycinate supplement improves sleep performance. This was a supplement I had been using for years. It clearly showed up

Resistance exercise (weight-lifting) does not register as much strain. (But it will reduce recovery). The whoop strap is designed primarily to track cardiovascular exercise and the recovery score represents how ready your body is for cardiovascular stress. While a very strenuous resistance exercise workout will not increase your strain for the day very much (since it will not generally create a sustained increase in heart rate), it will show up indirectly with a lower recovery than you might otherwise expect the following day. Thus, the whoop strap is not "missing" the effects of this workout as some believe by not elevating your strain score, it is absolutely registering its effects on your nervous system, and will guide you to optimize your fitness regimen based on the reduced recovery score.