This week on Generations, we dive into health tracking—why we use it, where it falls short, and how it can actually help instead of hurt. We talk Apple Watches, calorie deficits, anxiety, sleep data, menstrual cycle tracking, and why trends matter more than daily numbers. We share what we’ve learned from years of experimenting with fitness wearables, why privacy matters in tech, and how being “in tune with our bodies” isn’t about obsession—it’s about awareness. And we wrap with some surprising research on how just a little resistance training can dramatically lower your risk of death and even cancer.

Show Notes

• We kick off with winter fatigue, weird sleep weeks, and how small disruptions affect how we feel.
• Why this episode started with a text about starting a calorie deficit — and why we decided tracking was worth discussing.
• Peter’s long experiment with wearables (Fitbit, Garmin, Pebble, Microsoft Band) — and why most of them ultimately fell short.
• Why we landed on the Apple Watch:
  • Best overall smartwatch experience
  • Solid fitness tracking for normal humans
  • Actually useful smart features
  • Better privacy model than Google-owned ecosystems
• The real value of tracking:
  • Not the daily numbers
  • The trends over time
  • Using data for awareness, not obsession
• Heart rate alerts and anxiety:
  • Using elevated heart rate notifications as a cue to regulate
  • Tracking medication side effects responsibly
• Calorie tracking on a cut:
  • We don’t rely on watch calorie burn to determine deficits
  • Apps like Chronometer and MacroFactor help — but ease of use matters
• Sleep tracking:
  • Sleep latency, HRV, resting heart rate
  • Seeing physiological effects of behaviors (like late eating)
  • Why tracking can be helpful if it doesn’t increase anxiety
• Cycle tracking & women’s health:
  • Logging symptoms daily reveals powerful patterns
  • Hormones affect sleep, hunger, mood, and performance
  • Being in an “in tune with my body” era
• Apple Health collects a lot of data — but doesn’t present it well.
  • Third-party apps like Athlytic make it more usable.
• Medical Fact:
  • Resistance + cardio training linked to 40% lower all-cause mortality
  • Nearly 30% lower cancer-specific mortality
  • Strength training plays a particularly protective role