My sleep was okay. Or so I thought. Then came Whoop – and the truth.

I thought I had my life pretty well under control. Job going, healthy diet, no alcohol, and hey – eight hours in bed should be enough, right? Or so I thought. Until I got myself WHOOP for Christmas – a wearable like the Oura ring – in the rose gold luxury edition. Because you can’t treat yourself to anything else. As soon as I put it on, my body told me the bitter truth: I was under constant stress, slept badly, barely regenerated – and felt like I was burning up inside at full speed. Welcome to optimized self-deception.

What happened next? I radically changed my sleep – without hocus-pocus, without detox, without 5 a.m. meditation. Simply with a bracelet that mercilessly held up a mirror to me every day. Spoiler: I sleep like a Zen monk on Valium these days. And drinking enough water to boot.

This is how my WHOOP journey began

My starting values:

• Resting heart rate 74.
• Regenerative deep & REM sleep: just under 2 hours.
• Stress level: 2 to 3 hours a day in the red zone.
• The parameters of a long and healthy life? Rather not.

I felt like I had to jump out of myself. Always under power, always a bit beside myself. The wearable from WHOOP was actually only supposed to give me an overview. What it really triggered was a radical change.

Why sleep in particular?

WHOOP is very popular among athletes because it can really show you everything. Athletes? I thought to myself: good company. So I went straight for the high-performance part. You never know. It’s just that I’m not (yet) a big fan of sport. So first I optimize my sleep. I really like doing that.

What’s more, everyone now knows how enormously important sleep is for our health. Check! A wonderful start to my longevity lifestyle. No inner pig dog to overcome. No sacrifices like when changing your diet. No additional stress – on the contrary. Just better sleep.

What’s special about Whoop

Whoop not only measures sleep, pulse, breathing and heart rate variability – but also translates all values into specific recommendations. No pedometer fuss, no colorful ring games, no Apple Watch that flashes and beeps. Just a (not so) simple wristband and clear data on your cell phone – on physical recovery, resilience and actual sleep quality. It shows – and reminds you – when you should sleep, how rested you are – and when you need recovery or should exercise. I got a real sense of my physiological reality for the first time. Somehow you know it, but seeing it in numbers and traffic light colors is something else.

WHOOP – a woman sees red

The facts were bitter: my body was permanently in alarm mode, my sleep irregular, my sleep phases insufficient, my nervous system exhausted.

Today – four months later – my daily report looks like this:

• Resting heart rate: 53
• Almost 100% sleep performance every day
• 3:48 to 4:28 hours of deep and REM sleep per night
• Hardly any days with high stress levels

And: I’m finally drinking enough.

Not because I’ve suddenly mutated into a health queen, but because my personal logbook asks me every day: Have you been drinking enough fluids? At some point, it just got so annoying that I could no longer see the constant “too little” display. The solution? Drink more. Ingeniously simple. I could have done it before. But I didn’t. Apparently I needed statistics.

What else has changed? Above all my behavior.

I literally subordinated myself to sleep – because my WHOOP “demanded” it. Sounds harsh, but it was exactly what I needed. Fixed bedtimes. No blue light in the evening. No eating after 8pm. I track when I go to bed, how much I move – and my body responds almost gratefully.

4 months with WHOOP – the result

I feel like I’ve been recalibrated. Clear in my head. Resilient in everyday life. And: I feel myself again – without feeling like I’m about to explode. What’s more, I now wake up before my WHOOP bracelet “gently” buzzes me out of sleep. I’m just totally rested and regenerated, and jump out of bed by myself at 6:30 am. I only enjoy a cup of coffee – because it tastes good. Not because I would otherwise be classed as a “zombie”.

I would never have thought that a wearable like WHOOP could improve my quality of life so much. Where I didn’t even think about the need for self-optimization. But that’s exactly what happened.

I would also like to mention this. I’m not a numbers person. But facing the truth can change you. Babysteps, is all I can say! Maybe a wearable like WHOOP or the Oura ring is the solution for you to start changing. Just do it!

An article by Daniela Wiessner – and no Advertisement, because: no cooperation!