What Are the Negatives of Light While You're Sleeping?

It's been awhile since I've talked about the WHOOP self-quantification wristband.

A few things we learned in my last podcast about this unique device, entitled  "WHOOP: The Performance Enhancing Wearable That Tells You When To Sleep, How To Exercise, Your Strain Levels & More!, include:

-The key defining characteristics that set WHOOP apart, including skin conductivity, accelerometer data, and continuous HRV monitoring…

-Why WHOOP is the only company to measure the activity and fluctuations of the cardiac autonomic nervous system, particularly as it relates to recovery, training status, and training readiness…

-The actual hard data being collected by the WHOOP, and HRV, pulse oximetry, temperature, respiration, etc.)…

-Why the WHOOP uses a combination of PPG (photoplethysmography) sensors (4 LEDs and 1 Photodiode) along with 3-axis accelerometer, capacitive touch sensor, ambient temperature sensor…

-How coaches and trainers can use WHOOP to monitor the sleep, training and recovery status of a large number of athletes and clients…

-Why the WHOOP has 90% sleep/wake accuracy compared to gold-standard sleep labs…

-How the WHOOP sleep coach automatically calculates sleep needed based on your sleep baseline, any sleep debt that has accumulated over the last few nights, and any naps taken for that day…

-The technology the WHOOP uses to tell you how much sleep you need and to give you a picture of when you should go to bed based on your habitual sleep efficiency and desired wake up time…

-Why athletes like LeBron James and Michael Phelps are using the WHOOP…

And in the article The World On Your Wrist: How To Track Your Daily Strain, Recovery, Sleep & More (A Nerded Out Review Of The New WHOOP Wearable.), you got a complete user review of exactly how the WHOOP worked out when a member of my team put it through the ringer for sleep, activity, recovery and much more.

Then in the follow-up podcast "The Reebok Crossfit Games, Half-Ironman Nutrition, Elite Athlete Diets & More: A Conversation With The WHOOP Team" we discussed how Crossfit athletes have been getting a ton of value out of the WHOOP.

Today,  Will Ahmed, the Founder and CEO of WHOOP, is back. At WHOOP, Will works with professional athletes across every sports league, college athletes across every conference, Olympians and the U.S. military.

Ahmed has raised more than $50 million from top investors and has an active advisory board that consists of some of the world’s most notable cardiologists, technologists, marketers, and designers. He was named a 2011 Harvard College Scholar for finishing in the top 10% of his class and a CSA Scholar Athlete; he captained the Harvard Men’s Varsity Squash Team. Ahmed was recently named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40.

During our discussion, you'll discover: -What a WHOOP device is, and what makes it so unique...8:00

• Unlock human performance.
• Understanding 3 core parameters about the body:
  • Strain
  • Recovery
  • Sleep
• Focus is on collecting data: 100 mb per person per day.
  • 100x more than other wearables.
  • Much more accurate understanding of the body
• Strong focus on Heart Rate Variability (measured 24/7)
• Triangulating data points.
• Recovery is the most important measurement.
• What is measured in the realm of sleep.
  • WHOOP data is comparable to PSG, considered the "gold standard" of sleep measurement.
  • Used by the NFLPA for recovery wear.

-Why there's a very dim light on the WHOOP device, and whether there's concern about it affecting quality of sleep...19:40

• Blue light stimulates the IPRGC, which tell your circadian rhythm that it's daytime.
  • Don't look at screens at night.
• WHOOP emits green light; less capable of stimulating those cells.
• If wearing correctly, you can't see the light at all.
• Light on the body of the U/V spectrum is problematic.
• Seeing light much more consequential, than light being emitted onto your skin.

-About the actual electricity, Bluetooth, wifi signaling of the WHOOP...23:20

• Two different things at work
  • Frequency
  • Power emission
• Low power emission has very little consequence, even with sustained exposure. 
• Power emission is measured by level of communication. (Cell phones are very high)
• Bluetooth have very low power emission.
• WHOOP is not constantly transmitting data; every 6 minutes.
• WiFi is extremely high power emission.
• If phone is in airplane mode, WHOOP stops transmitting data.

-The research WHOOP has been doing on meditation...32:10

• Partnering with Head Space and Arsenal on a study. (can't discuss details)
• Study involving float tanks.
  • Gives effects of sleep without sleeping.
  • Similar to a meditation session.
  • Monitoring HRV, respiratory rate, heart rate and motion
• Independent woman did a mindfulness study
  • For 3 weeks, had no mindfulness practice.
  • Then for 3 weeks, meditated 3-4 times per day.
  • HRV increased while practicing mindfulness; quality of sleep improved.

-WHOOP's work with Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces...35:45

• Worked with Army ordinance unit.
  • 40 participants
  • Half could see data; half could not.
  • Those with access to data went to bed earlier; slept later than those without access to data.
• Navy SEALS test
  • Sky dove from 14k feet into the ocean.
  • Swam 3 miles to shore
  • Ran 100 miles with 25 lb plates on their back.
  • Focus on preventing overtraining; body wasn't recovering properly.
  • By seeing data, helped with recovery.
  • When they started, averaged ~6 hrs. sleep per night; after 3 months, averaged 7.5 hrs.

-Research Will has done on stress reduction...42:30

• Stress and HRV closely related.
• Less alcohol consumption.
• No caffeine after 4 pm.
• Exercise; but don't overtrain or undertrain.
• Drink more high quality water. (minerals, sea salts, etc.)
• Dehydration plays a large role in lack of recovery.
• Mindfulness.

-The pros and cons of sleep regularity vs. sleep duration...46:45

• Harvard study performed on students showed that consistency in sleep led to higher GPA
• "Sleep coach" within the WHOOP app recommends times to go to bed and to wake up.
• Minimum viable sleep.
• WHOOP takes napping into account (sleep need)

-And much more!!! Resources from this episode:

-WHOOP (use code GREENFIELD for $30 off at checkout)

-AquaTru Mineral Drops

-Quicksilver Scientific Quintron Hypertonic Minerals

-Biohacking movie Ben mentions: Upgrade

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Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Will or me? Leave your comments at http://bengreenfieldfitness.com/whoop3 and one of us will reply!

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