I’m Matt, your host here at Garmin’s training video series.
For years, we’ve based our health on how we feel.
Maybe we only get concerned when we’re in serious pain, or when we have a fever – but our health shouldn’t be dependent on assumptions.
In fact, scientific data can reveal the truth about our health.
So today I want to tell you about 5 key health indicators you can monitor with compatible Garmin wearables, that utilizes this scientific data.
These key health indicators will give you insights about your body and your health to help determine if you’re up for giving it your all, or if you need to take a break from your normal routine.
Consisting of heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, stress monitoring, and advanced sleep monitoring,
each of these indicators can be tracked with your compatible Garmin wearable through Garmin Connect or the Garmin Connect Mobile app.
So let’s take a look at each of these indicators individually.
The heart is the center of all activities, and you can effectively monitor your health status by analyzing your heart rate data.
For adults, a normal resting heart rate ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute.
In general, it’s believed that when you have a fever, your heart rate will be higher than usual.
But did you also know that a higher resting heart rate could be influenced by factors such as your fitness level,
the potential for cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, or even diabetes?
To help decrease your resting heart rate, the American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.
Following their guidelines can help reduce blood pressure, increase calories burned for weight loss, and help to manage cholesterol.
With your compatible Garmin wearable, you can not only monitor and analyze your heart rate,
but also keep track of your activity minutes per week to help hit your exercise goals.
But heart rate is only part of the data. Your respiratory rate plays a critical role as well.
The normal resting respiratory rate of a healthy adult is 12 to 20 breaths per minute.
A lower rate is a general indication of good health.
During intense physical activity, your respiratory rate can be around 40 to 50 breathes per minute.
But even during exercise, the rate of those with better physical fitness levels tend to be lower.
Not only can you monitor your respiratory rate with compatible Garmin wearables,
but the breathwork activity profile found on some Garmin watches can help increase awareness, reduce stress, improve mental sharpness, and help improve sleep quality.
And speaking of sleep, our immunity is the first line of defense against viruses – and the quality of sleep we get is key to our health and wellness.
Sleep consists of various stages including light, deep, and Rem sleep.
But it’s during the deep sleep stage that the body will begin to repair, build bone & muscle, and boost our immune system.
Sleep patterns can vary based on a number of factors such as age, alcohol intake, and even sleep disorders.
And with Garmin’s advanced sleep monitoring function in compatible devices, you’ll be able to closely monitor how much sleep you’re getting and how long you spend in each of the sleep stages.
Blood oxygen saturation, also referred to as Pulse Ox or SpO2 is closely related to lung health and refers to the concentration of oxygen in our blood.
An ideal Pulse Ox level should be between 95 and 100 percent – and a level lower than 90 percent is considered too low, however the figure may vary with individual physical differences.
Tips to help increase your blood oxygen level include monitoring air quality, exercise, and even certain foods – just to name a few.
So to help keep your lungs healthy, you’ll want to monitor and maintain a balanced Pulse Ox level, and you can do just that with compatible Garmin wearables.
And what about stress?
When we get caught up in highly stressful situations for long periods of time, it can be destructive to our overall health.
It’s not just a feeling of being overwhelmed, anxious, or exhausted, but a physiological occurrence that can be observed and measured.
Garmin’s stress monitoring feature uses heart rate variability to estimate your stress levels.
The stress level range is from 0 to 100, where 0 to 25 is a resting state, 26 to 50 is low stress, 51 to 75 is medium stress, and 76 to 100 is a high stress state.
Simple ways to relieve stress include exercise, avoiding alcohol, and slow, deep breathing.
With a compatible Garmin wearable, knowing your stress level can help you identify stressful moments throughout your day – allowing you to work on managing it.
So there you have it!
By monitoring these health indicators, you’ll be well on your way to gaining a better understanding of your health and wellness – not just based on how you feel but based on real data.
Be the master of your own health – with the 5 key health indicators.
Thanks for taking the time to learn more about exercise and your immune system.
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For now, that’s all I‘ve got.
This is Matt from Garmin, hoping that however you choose to exercise, we’ve helped you beat yesterday.