welcome back to my blog and thank you for bearing with me because I was absent for a couple of weeks. I really have been busy with moving once and for all for a little bit hopefully and getting rental scammed and everything. that and a pre series-a startup tends to do that to a woman. anyhow, the topic for today: why do I care to keep my health tracking data (not that you asked) and my recommendations, because I think its a super helpful tool that lots of people could have the option of using if they just take a very simple action now so you may as well right?
my credentials: i am not some idiot just spewing nonsense on the topic thankfully but you can decide for yourself I guess. I studied biomedical computing with a specialization in computer assisted surgery and then went on to be a data engineer in big tech and then jump around at a bunch of founding eng roles at startups in the ai/agentic space. more of these internet doctors should say there credentials up front. i did get a d in german in college though so do with what information what you will.
Previously we never had a way to consolidate a large amount of information and find patterns other than having autistic people learn a great deal of information on a topic. Now we have that at massive scale, for everything.
you can take your tracking data as the control and compare against anything that comes up in the future, medication side effects and so on
as a woman this is even more important because all studies are done on men, and if you have a kid, those are things that really affect your normal and your baseline and having data to be able to compare against is going to be a life changing experience for these patients and doctors
personalized genomics is going to come into affect and personalized medicines if the people working on them do not all get killed mysteriously by strange foreign governments looking entities. some of the great work right now being done on this I will link below (Andrew and Amy, etc. etc.)
cause and effect is going to become clearer, can clearly suggest new diet plans, personalized workout plans, paths to getting care, medication interactions
personalized care at a completely new scale is almost upon us, right now would be like the last guy dying after the war has been called off but he does not know it yet, i do not want to be that guy, i want to keep all my healthcare data to have the option to use it later to benefit me, once the technology is there, and if it never gets there then i wore a watch? big loss bro
in new murder trials and homicides cops are now starting to use healthcare data to be able to see steps, body temperatures, to be able to identify and track down what happened, and who was responsible. my example is the work they are using using health tracking data both in the case of the Idaho four and the Lindsay Clancy case right now.
in which they used heart rate data, step data, gps location to know the exact moment she was killed and how he found her, her temperature so how long she must have been there for, her heart rate, everything.
It makes me feel safer to know what if something happened to me they would be able to see where and when my last step was.
for surfing it will send you the video but also has GPS detection and fall detection
the apple watch has a silent alarm, i like to use if i am traveling with my coworkers so I can wake up early and do my makeup because they are all boys and give me like one minute otherwise, or if you have a partner there
generally people take more steps and are more cautious of their health if they are tracking it, drink more water etc etc
i guess some people like workout and stuff and like to keep track of that
nice for driving for hands and eyes and audio free notifications
If you are a girl definitely track it, 2. if you are a girl in America be careful about who you are giving your reproductive data to (see the ultra-human below), 3. if you are a girl, do not wear an apple watch at a formal event, they are really ugly.
My rec is an apple watch, ultrahuman ring combo, but I will give my reasoning below.
Apple Watch: love it if it wasn’t so freaking ugly, and can be pretty distracting with notifications. notable call outs include: directions, haptic based, haptic based alarms, fall detection.
Whop: literally just a piece of string, no insights that are notable outside of my other tracking apps except for sleep which I do not believe in tracking to begin with. Gets wet and is just soggy for so long. Looks weird.
note on the rings (anything that does basal temperature tracking really, not specific to rings but this is the only thing with this technology currently): because this has basal temperature tracking, this can be used for menstrual tracking as well. while this can be super helpful, make sure you consider WHO has this information and what it is being used for depending on where you are living, be safe. also neither of the rings have haptics so do with that what you will too. i am really into these right now, I got the pebble too to be able to dictate to the ring and it goes to an llm to organize everything for you at the end of the day and send drafts. ill follow up later.
Ultrahuman Ring: my choice, basically the same as the oura ring but loses pigmentation a bit sooner, and a little worse battery life. So much cuter than the apple watch, not distracting, easy to always have on. Can add on patches to test blood glucose and oxygenation levels in the app.
Oura Ring: thinner, basically the exact same thing except better quality than my ultrahuman ring, bigger fan base, but with a subscription fee, and US based servers (meaning that they hypothetically COULD hand over your medical data if asked). More support, bigger customer base.
Fitbit: the most fun competitions and landscape, but super fell behind the market a couple years ago.
If you are a Garmin believer and disagree with me, please let me know in the comments, I am open to having my mind changed.
considerations if you’re thinking of getting one: “own your baseline,” which only works if you can actually get your data OUT. so before you buy anything, a few things nobody tells you:
the export situation…
apple watch: goes into apple health. you export the entire thing yourself: Settings > your profile > Export All Health Data. it spits out a zip with an export.xml that can be like 500MB–1GB+ if you’ve worn it for years, which you then convert to a csv. clunky but it’s YOURS
ultrahuman: you can pull your data as csv/xml straight from the app, no subscription
oura: the full raw data lives behind their API, which requires an active subscription. so if you ever cancel, part of your control group locks itself. you get shareable PDF reports and a web download, but the full export is subscription-gated. keep that in mind if the entire reason you’re buying this is to own your baseline forever.
the upfront cost:
ultrahuman ring air: $349 once, no subscription ever. BUT — heads up, americans — the Air is caught in a US import ban over oura’s patent claims, so the model you can actually buy here now is the Ring Pro at $479 (or $349 if you catch the early-bird bundle with the charging case).
oura ring 4: $349–549 depending on finish, first year of membership free, then $5.99/mo or $69.99/yr. over 3 years you’re really paying ~$559. it’s the cheapest premium subscription out there but it IS a subscription, forever.
tl;dr: if “own my data forever” is the actual goal, the no-subscription rings win on principle, not just price. the thing that gates your data is the thing that decides whether this was worth it (to me at least, especially when something as valuable and personal as your healthcare data)
So I guessed when asked if it is worth it to me to wear the watch or the ring I would argue to you that I would much rather be the girl who wore the ring or the watch and ended up not being able to do anything with the information it provided, than.be the guy who kept fighting the war after it was already called off. worst case: i get a silent alarm, some steps, and better hydration, and in the best case I get a control group that has all of my dna and patterns and environmental exposures which (especially if you are a woman) is more than most medical literature ever bothered to collect.
Am i going to go and be Bryan Johnson? no. but do I think I can manage wearing a little pretty gold ring that I charge sometimes. yeah. so start collecting it because nobody is going to do it for you (unless you want to better spend the time emailing and asking for the profile Palantir has on your which I am sure if just as if not more comprehensive.
what do you think dear reader?? how do you track?? can you see your heartrate spike when your least fav coworker starts talking because I can.
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