If you want to biohack your body you first need to be able to measure things, because it’s key for figuring out what you need to work on. When I first put a blood sugar monitor on in 2014 I was surprised to see that I wasn’t as healthy as I thought I was. I used blood sugar tracking to transform my health. You can learn all about this in my online course! Similarly, when I started tracking my stress levels I was surprised to see that I had a lot of work to do in this arena. There’s so much we can do to optimize our health. Here are my top technologies I regularly use and prescribe to track my health and the health of my clients:
1) Stress (HRV) – I like Oura Ring a lot, but you really should sign up for the app Hanu Health, which uses the Polar heart strap and is just amazing for training HRV. A somewhat decent alternative is the Heartmath Inner Balance device. If you want to learn more about how to tackle stress check out my blog post on understanding the HPA axis!
2) Sleep – I use Oura Ring but you can also check out the app SleepSpace to get even better outcomes for your sleep using their technology which syncs with all the best sleep trackers.
3) Breathwork – Big fan of Othership. Wim Hoff also has a cool breathwork app but don’t use it if you are highly stressed or burned out because it can worsen it. Freedive Apnea can also help with training your breathing for training breath holds to increase your lung capacity. The device Airofit can also be used for athletes who want to work on their lung capacity
4) Movement – I would recommend Oura Ring or Garmin devices (depending on your budget).
5) Glucose Monitoring – Levels uses the following continuous glucose monitors: Abbott Freestyle Libre sensor and Dexcom Sensors. But, fingerstick monitors are also great. I like the Abbott Precision Xtra for monitoring ketones and blood sugar. Test strips aren’t cheap but they are the most accurate way to check for ketones.
6) Food Tracking – Ommyx is a new option specifically designed for athletes looking to boost their performance. It’s not available to the public yet but sign up for their wait list. I’m a big fan of Cronomter for tracking grams of protein, micronutrients, net carbs, grams of fiber, calories, macronutrients, etc.
7) Fasting – Zero Fasting Tracker or Lifesum are great tools for tracking your fasting window!
8) Connected Scale – WYZE Smart Scale is only $40. I personally use this travel scale because I find it convenient to throw in a bag on trips. The Happy Scale app is a good way to track your weight as it smooths out the ups and downs most people have when they are seeing their weight fluctuate daily. It gives you overall trends.
8) Metabolic Flexibility – Big fan of Lumen for creating more metabolic flexibility and you can get $25 off with the code DRMOLLY25.
9) Red Light Therapy – I am currently using this handheld red light on amazon, Vital Red Light (use code MOLLY for 10% off) and the Flexbeam device (use code DRMOLLY for $50 off!)
10) Health Dashboard – Heads Up Health can be used to tie all of these data points together. It’s particularly good for showing the relationship between sleep, stress, movement, and blood sugar.
I hope this article helps you think through which technologies to explore to optimize your health. Remember, it’s not necessary to purchase all of these! Start with one and get a handle on it and we can see if it’s right for you.