Is WHOOP healf certified?
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If you're around the fitness and health space or maybe even around the office you may have seen a whoop.
You've probably seen it on every podcast host, athlete or your mate at the gym. Founded by Will Ahmed a Harvard graduate back in 2012 whoop is worn by some of the biggest sporting stars in the world across NFL,NBA, pro golf and more.
Initially designed for peak performance of world class athletes, whoop has also navigated its way into the general population for the health conscious individual. It’s a biometric health tracking device that can measure your key vitals associated with health & performance.
The wearable fitness space is becoming bigger and bigger as we see multiple products trying to vouch for the same attention.
Over the last 5 years we've seen a huge change in how athletes but also the general population want to dial in on their overall health and fitness and be more aware of how to squeeze every bang for their buck in life, health and relationships.
So what does it measure …
Key Insights Measured:
HRV - Your HRV "heart rate variability” is the variation in time between each heart beat. Without getting too nerdy this is all controlled by your ANS (autonomic nervous system). This regulates many of the essential pathways in the body including your heart rate, blood pressure and digestion to name a few. A higher HRV can signify great overall health and aerobic fitness whilst a lower HRV can indicate that recovery is needed, you're experiencing significant physiological stress and even potentially becoming sick or unwell.
Sleep performance - WHOOP's biggest and most used feature is its sleep performance tracking. It uses each one of these markers to then produce you an overall recovery score based on how well you slept, how hard you worked and how your vitals are affected as a result. Tagging your activity and reflecting on the journal to identify trends and patterns.
Recovery Score - Whoop calculates your recovery on a scale of 0 to 100% during your sleep, looking at your heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate, respiratory rate, SpO2, sleep performance, and skin temperature to see how your body is adapting to physiological and psychological stress.
Personal Habit logging - Great to monitor what affects your scores and recovery. Whoop allows you to log personal aspects such as supplements you may be taking, if you use a sleep mask at night and females are even able to track and understand how their body reacts and recovers in differing parts of your menstrual cycle.
These are the top measures of WHOOP but it doesn't stop there. It will measure everything from overall recovery based on sleep and strain, any physical activity, there is a stress monitor and pretty much all the key health markers including HR, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels and beyond.
As a Wellbeing Consultant and Athletic Performance coach, here's what Matthew Bayliss thinks after using WHOOP for several years:
Why I love it:
An incredible tool if you find it beneficial to monitor your key health indicators and can use this positively to drive and also pull back on your performance.
It’s consistently evolving in regards to features, measures and insights that it can provide to you as a user.
Sleep monitoring - if you're slightly obsessed with your sleep with it being such a huge indicator of not just how you're performing in an athletic sense but also your level of mood and general health - sleep is king! Especially for us gents as it comes to mood and testosterone levels never mind performance markers in the gym.
It allows you to really understand what's going on underneath the hood so to speak. A feature I love is how WHOOP can show you certain habits, behaviours that negatively affect your health and overall recovery. Alcohol, poor sleep, poor nutrition will flag instantly for me on my WHOOP score allowing me to really dial in on areas of my life least serving your overall health.
Design and wearability - you can wear your whoop 24/7, they have multiple colour-ways and also waterproof straps - easily one of the best designed wearable on the market.
It’s screenless - this was intentionally by whoop. You’r not distracted by yet another screen in your life. All insights are easily seen and measured on the whoop app.
"WHOOP isn’t a watch, it’s a WHOOP" - Will Ahmed, Founder
Are there any cons?
Whilst it can be a huge tool it can also become an obsessive one if not understood or used correctly. Using WHOOP with my clients is incredibly rewarding, but I'm also incredibly aware that it can come with its setbacks for those with an obsessive personality type!
I am a huge believer in intuitive health and training, we know our bodies better than anyone or any wearable. 100% relying on what your whoop may say even if you feel good can be a tricky battle.
Think of it like google maps - it’s an enabler , a tool, you use it to get to your destination, it will help you navigate your way, be careful you may also get lost but it ultimately helps you get to where you need to be.
Final thoughts:
If you're looking to really explore how you can help support your health and want to deep dive into your personal health insights, it’s an incredible tool. Probably the best feature of WHOOP is the sleep performance tracking insights. If there was one area where you can manage that would have the biggest impact on your health it would be your sleep - this is a win for everyone when it comes to WHOOP data. It's comfortable, sleek design looks great. You'll forget you even have it on!
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This article is for informational purposes only, even if and regardless of whether it features the advice of physicians and medical practitioners. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. The views expressed in this article are the views of the expert and do not necessarily represent the views of healf
