Wearables, Sleep Scores, & The Why and What of Health Tracking

We each have our own unique why. A calling. A mission. My guest today Erik Korem has a mission to keep people to account. He has spent considerable time and effort studying all the companies promising their devices can change your health, actually checking the research and calling it like it is. We have interesting debates in the show, but ultimately we agree, data is not valuable without the human capital component that it must be partnered with.

Erik Korem is on a mission to help people change their world with his relentless pursuit of high performance. He believes that everyone’s health and well-being are their responsibility, whether they want to reduce stress, boost their energy, lose a few pounds, or sleep better, it all starts with adaptability. He is a PhD sports scientist with a passion for solving the data-to-action gap that exists in the wearable tech and mHealth space and does so with his company AIM7.

Join us as we explore:

• What the research and science really say about exercise, zones, carrying weight, longevity, healthspan, HRV and steps but why for the everyday person trying to be healthy they need to focus on basics and consistency.
• Why the number of exercise sessions per week needs to be understood in the context of intensity, regardless of what level of fitness you are at.
• Why the key to wearables are not the wearables themselves but the human capital around them.
• Whether you use Apple watch, OURA, Polar or WHOOP, the wearables 101 masterclass with expert analysis and opinion on wearables you won’t hear anywhere else. 
• Why accuracy does not matter about wearables as much as people think, and the one thing wearables measure that is totally misunderstood!
• Social jet-lag, the architecture of sleep and how the timing of your sleep puts pressure on different stages of sleep, and when it comes to sleep worry less about stages and more about the 3 key sleep behaviours.

Contact:

• Website – https://www.erikkorem.com

Mentions

• Blog – Accuracy of Wearable Technology & Smart Watches, https://www.aim7.com/blog/smartwatch-wearable-technology-accuracy
• Study –  “Revisiting the association of sedentary behaviour and physical activity with all-cause mortality using a compositional approach: the Women’s Health Study”, https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-021-01173-0
• Study – Sleep chronotypes, https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/05/27/earlier-sleep-timing-associated-lower-depression-risk
• Study – “The Rise of Consumer Health Wearables: Promises and Barriers”, https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001953
• Podcast – “Upside of Stress”, https://omny.fm/shows/the-blueprint-with-dr-erik-korem/the-upside-of-stress-with-kelly-mcgonigal