What’s so great about Welltory 2.0? In just 2 minutes, you can find out:
- how to plan your day so that you don’t run out of steam
- how much you can expect to get done for the day
- how well your body will cope with an upcoming presentation
- whether you need active rest or a comfy couch over the weekend
- how to recover so that you can feel better tomorrow
- whether your last workout helped boost your endurance
- what your stress resilience looks like
And much more! Our brand-new, personalized heart rate variability algorithms take into account factors like individual traits, nervous system type, current state, and lifestyle.
Welltory 2.0 is on ProductHunt! Check out our page and let us know what you think.
How it all started: making HRV measurements accessible
When we first started working on Welltory, our goal was to help people optimize their lifestyles so they can be the best possible versions of themselves every day — productive, healthy, and happy!
The tool we had in mind was heart rate variability analysis — a method that is used to assess the state of the nervous system, as well as stress and recovery processes in the body.
The first challenge was making heart rate variability measurements accessible to everybody.
Our solution was an app that used the phone’s camera and flash to take measurements. After a lot of tweaking, we were able to get measurements just as accurate as those taken with professional heart rate monitors.
The big problem: variability is too variable
The second challenge we came across is something all researchers who have ever worked with heart rate variability have come across. It can be summed up as follows: THE VARIABILITY IS TOO VARIABLE.
We saw this happen in practice. Sure, some people were thrilled with how accurate the results were.
“We have a tendency to focus on what we can see (exercise and diet) but neglect the real “drivers” — that of stress and energy… Welltory gives you that awareness and helps you manage those items enabling you to get back in the game.”
— Michael Wood, fitness expert, twice named one of the “Top 100 Trainers in America”
Still, others told us that our measurements didn’t match how they were feeling at all. The reason for this kind of discrepancy is that all of us are different, which means that heart rate variability is also different for us all. This is exactly why heart rate variability works best in fields like professional sports and space medicine.
These are spheres where each person is so important that they require a personalized approach backed by individual analysis. Basically, a whole lab working on one person.
Nobody has been able to come up with any mass market ranges because there was never enough data.
And here’s the best part — we had enough data!
Solving the variability puzzle: data and personalized algorithms
In just a few months, we were able to collect millions of measurements enriched with information about people’s lifestyles, work, subjective experiences, and clinical assessments.
We tested our algorithms against our own data and found distinct correlations with things like depression, people’s subjective assessments of their well-being, and even walking cadence.
Correlations with professional health assessments
For example, here is the correlation between the PHQ-9 Depression Survey results and our Stress metric:
And here us the correlation between the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) results and our Energy metric:
And here is General Health (results taken from the SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire) versus Energy:
And Personal Well-Being (results also taken from the SF-36 Health Survey Questionnaire) versus Energy:
Correlations with work & productivity data
Moreover, we were able to find some telling correlations between measurement results and productivity. For example, here is a graph showing our support team’s average energy scores versus their reaction speed:
And here is the average lines of code versus workouts per week:
Pretty neat, right?
All of this gave us the opportunity to consult with experts and use big data technology to create customized heart rate variability analysis algorithms.
Customized algorithms
The key point of our discovery is that we’ve learned how to split people up into different groups based on their genetic, or inherent, body constitution. More importantly, we learned how to distinguish between people’s contextual state, which can be influenced by all kinds of factors, and their baseline state.
The new version of Welltory prompts users to take morning measurements for 7 days in a row, then uses the results to determine their baseline state and genetic body constitution.
This is what enables us to give a truly personalized assessment for each individual.
We can go beyond saying “hey, this parameter is a bit above average” and interpret what exactly it means for a person of your particular body type.
A better Welltory: new parameters, daily recommendations, and more!
Our discoveries prompted us to add another parameter that we called Performance.
Performance
Performance shows users how close they are to their best possible selves — a state we refer to as “peak performance.” Performance scores range from 1 to 5, with 4 being the ideal state for a long and productive day. A score of 5 is best for days when there is a crunch at work, a big presentation, a competition, or any other event that requires powering through full-speed. It’s good every once in a while, but is not sustainable over the long-term.
We’ve also added a sub-parameter called Performance cost, which shows users how well their bodies are coping with stressors.
Stress
The app’s old Stress parameter is still here, but we’ve done some serious tweaking to make them more user-friendly. The app generates the new parameter by analyzing the current and baseline states of the user’s nervous system, along with the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.
They key addition is that users can now see whether the stress they’re under is good for their bodies. Not all stress is bad for us, and some stress is definitely necessary if we want to get things done, be better at our jobs, or even experience personal growth.
That’s why the new stress parameter looks like a speedometer that changes colors.
Green means the user’s stress level is optimal: not too high or too low, but just enough to focus and get things done.
Red indicates that the user is under the bad kind of stress that can damage your health over the long term.
Since no stress at all is not so great, the app will let users know when it’s time to up the ante.
Users can also tap on the Stress parameter to learn more about their genetic stress resilience and see the old stress parameter in order to compare it to their previous scores.
Energy
The Energy parameter has undergone similar improvements.
Aside from overall energy scores, the arrows next to the energy icon let users know if they’re conserving energy, expending energy, or striking the perfect balance.
The additional information helps users make decision about recovery and downtime.
Plus, users can tap on the Energy parameter to see the old energy parameter and compare it to their previous scores.
Recommendations
Most importantly, Welltory 2.0 boasts thousands of AI recommendations that take into account the user’s measurement results, their baseline state and genetic body types, and more.
The result is that out users get relevant, customized advice with every measurement. For example, every morning Welltory users can find out:
- how much they can expect to get done today
- how to plan their day
- and what to do in the evening in order to feel better tomorrow.
All of these changes give our users more accurate readings that take into account inherent differences between individuals, which means the app ends up generating a personalized self-improvement program with every single measurement a user takes.
The new AI recommendations are the final piece of the puzzle. They let users know how to interpret their results and, most importantly, what they need to do to start feeling better.
We want to thank all of our users for sticking with us and taking the measurements that helped us to create our new, self-learning algorithms.
If you haven’t tried Welltory yet, it’s simple — just download the app and take a measurement.
It’s a wrap for the Welltory team for 2017! We’re off to celebrate with a round of wheatgrass shots and gluten-free acai smoothies.
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