Are you hoping to be healthier in 2022? These days, you don't have to rely only on expert advice. You can, and should, be your own scientist—and what scientists need is data.
Luckily, there are several devices on the market that can help you understand your physiology, which can ultimately help you improve your health.
1. Want to make healthier food choices?
The moment our blood sugar goes up, our pancreas releases insulin. When insulin is high, we are in an anabolic state. We store energy. When that happens, we DO NOT burn any stored body fat. One of the physiological requirements to liberate free fatty acids out of adipose (fat) tissue storage is to have low levels of insulin.
There are a couple of devices on the market that will continuously measure your blood sugar levels. I like this one because you don't need to scan it; the data just goes to your phone, and you can see patterns right away.
Exercise is an essential habit, of course, but it is not the hardest one. As we all know, our nutritional habits are the hardest to change—because with nutrition, you need to focus on it 24/7. If you have a device that shows you in real time how your blood sugar changes, you will think twice the next time you go to grab that cookie or soda.
2. Considering the keto diet?
If you are interested in trying out the keto diet for a while, you might want to get a blood ketone measuring device. These devices let you see in real time which foods take you out of ketosis and which don't.
When I first started this diet many years ago, I used one of these devices for about a month and found it really useful. The early transition from primarily burning sugar for energy to ketones sometimes isn't fun, and you really have to do it right! I used that device several times a day around my meals, which helped me understand which foods took me out of ketosis and for how long.
Eventually, I knew when I was in ketosis just by the way I felt. Every time I felt great, my ketone levels were high. When I felt sluggish, they were low. After a month or so, I didn't need to measure my ketone levels any more.
3. Having issues with sleep?
Many of us could use a little more sleep. I certainly do. I lost my ability to sleep well when I started my business. Oh well, it is worth it, I hope...
While I have no personal experience yet with the Oura Ring, I know it has been on the market for a while and is quite popular. If, like me, you struggle to get even six hours of quality sleep, you might consider getting the ring. It could potentially help you understand your sleep patterns and figure out some lifestyle interventions, or supplements, that could lead to better sleep.
If we don't get good sleep, almost nothing else that we do will work well, whether it's trying to lose fat, build lean muscle tissue, improve our physical and mental performance, or just improve our health and well-being.
If I had to choose one of these three devices, I would choose the continuous blood sugar monitor. You may lie to yourself or your friends, but you can't lie to the device. If you learn to eat in a way that keeps your blood sugar in the green zone for an entire month, it will change your relationship with food. Keep your blood sugar low, and you could see your fat starting to melt away, not to mention improvements in a cascade of other health markers, too.
This is part 1 in a three-part series about lifestyle interventions for health. Read parts 2 and 3.