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Do wearable metrics help or hurt your mental health?

4 days ago (edited)

After reading a lot about wearables over the past few days, it seems that for some people, constant tracking doesn’t always support their mental health — and in some cases, it can even add pressure or anxiety.

I’m curious to hear:
How often do you check your wearable data?

And how does it affect your mood, motivation, or general well-being?

@karol

@heiko-bartlog

@paul-hammer

@hillary-lin

@philipp-pfeiffer-3

@cristina-manole

Mental Health
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· 4 days ago (edited)

Hi @tino-wenderoth, I see more and more people joining this discussion.

I wrote a LinkedIn post about it and shared my experiences here:

https://lnkd.in/p/e44Zcjvq

There’s no universal answer. It really depends on personality, experience, and goals. For some, wearables are a strong motivator; for others, the constant data becomes a stressor and even a negative experience.

In my view, wearables are most valuable at the start of a health journey, bringing “aha” moments and transparency. But over time, many experience wearable fatigue. The best transition I see is: wearables → wearables + body intuition → body intuition.

I still check my WHOOP 5.0 daily for recovery metrics like strain, RHR, and HRV. But after 12 months, I’ll cancel and test other devices to broaden my understanding of what’s out there.

Would love to hear other perspectives on this. How do you use wearables, and where do you see their limits?

@felix-lorenzen
@simon
@brgmn
@karina-repko
@marie-berry
@gaspard-hauet
@ori-raz
@john-graham-harper
@max-griessinger-2

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· 4 days ago (edited)

Wearable metrics don‘t lie. Perfect for sleep tracking and recovery where most people overestimate e.g. their sleeping hours. And I also love the the Recovery Time value of my Garmin Forerunner -so helpful to avoid overtraining! ❤️

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· 3 days ago (edited)

Hey Karol,

Great discussion. For me personally, I don’t use wearable tracking at all. Having been a competitive athlete my whole life, I’ve developed a strong intuition about my health — through years of grind, trial, and error, I just know what needs to be done to optimize sleep, performance, and recovery.

I wish I could give more helpful feedback, but that’s simply how I operate. That said, I’d recommend anyone who doesn’t have that same lived experience to use every tool and trick available. Health is wealth — so why not take advantage of the hacks out there to maximize performance and thrive in life?

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· 3 days ago (edited)

Like others said, it depends a bit on your personality and the types of sports you do and the things you want to track.

I sometimes use a non display tracker for nights like a ring or a sleep device, I sometimes wear the ring during the day but I already used it for a longer period therefore I know the basic results.

For indoor sports I always use the polar band.

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