Todays wearables show dramatic shifts in health stats when one gets sick. There are five metrics which we can observe to see when we are coming down with something. This can be particularly helpful when deciding between going out for a stressful workout versus sleeping in to maximize recovery.
There interesting stats to look at are based around heart data, sleep and body temperature. Specifically these five values. These charts were generated using the first generation Oura Ring and Garmin Vivoactive 3.
RHR – Resting Heart Rate
HRV – Heart Rate Variability
Body Temperature Deviation
Stress Level
Sleep Quality – Deep, REM, # of wakeups
Starting with Resting Heart Rate this number is calculated by the Oura Ring as your lowest heart rate detected overnight. While my typical values are in the mid-40’s to low 50’s when I caught the flu my resting heart rate peaked at 67. That is nearly 20 point beyond my normal level. Fortunately, I don’t need to sift through my night time data to see this as modern smart watches with optical heart rate monitors will show this data through out the day.
RHR – Resting Heart Rate
Resting heart rate while sick with the flu (67). Lower is better.
Normal resting heart rate (45).
Garmin Vivoactive 3 weekly resting heart rate average. Note that Garmin is using average weekly not “lowest” so these values differ slightly.
HRV – Heart Rate Variability
HRV is currently the most popular single value to measure readiness. A higher number generally one in the 40 – 60 range is typical for me and indicates that it is okay to really push on todays workout.
This HRV score of 17 was taken during the peak of my flu. It is the lowest score I have ever seen. I felt miserable all night and the following day.
This HRV score of 51 was taken just two days before contracting the flu. This is a typical score for me and I felt terrific.
Body Temperature Deviation
Our body temperatures have a natural set point which rarely varies. The most I’ve seen for myself is about .5F of a degree on a typical night. This can be related to room temperature or an open window. However, when I contracted the flu my body temperature deviation jumped up to +4.7F.
Stress Level
Stress level with the flu. Most of the day was medium to high stress with only 5 minutes at rest.
Stress level on a good day has over 6h of rest and less than five hours of medium to high stress combined.
Sleep Quality
Here is what a terrible night of sleep looks like. Notice that deep sleep was only 17 minutes (normal for me is 90 minutes) and I was constantly waking up. Nearly 3.5 hours awake.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
