What We Lost When We Started Measuring Everything

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“Sleep quality below average”.

With my eyes barely open, I click through the data of my smartwatch.

Sleep duration: < 6 hours

REM: 1.30 minutes.

Same thing the next morning: sleep quality below average.

I feel a sudden sense of exhaustion, almost like I knew what the objective data proved now.

Now there is no denying I should feel tired throughout the day, but I cannot remember what came first, exhaustion or data that proves it?

“Is it self-fulfilling prophecy or is something off with me?”

I don`t want it to get to my head, so I stop using my smartwatch for sleep tracking data.

Ignorance helped me stop worrying about my poor sleep quality, but I might have missed something my body was telling me.

After I stopped tracking my sleep, nothing dramatic happened.

I didn’t suddenly sleep better or have more energy. I just stopped checking.

When it comes to my average heartrate on the other hand, I allow my smartwatch to prove I am stressed or calm, but not in hysteric way.

Once it gets anywhere near 60, I know that I need to find ways to calm down, usually in the form of more exercise.

It`s a strange place many people are in right now: We have access to more health data than ever before, but as depth and complexity rises, so does our confusion to what the data means. We may or may not act on them, depending on the type of person we are.

American Journal of Sports Medicine chose wearable technology as a Fitness trend Nr. 1 for the third time in a row.

Data should help us become informed in a objective way, because our life is often too loud to listen, but listening to data blindly is not a solution either.

So we are somewhere in between: aware, informed and still unsure.

I remember when I got into running, heart rate monitors that required you to wear a belt across your chest just entered the market.

I loved how suddenly I could build a exercise plan based on my goal, fitness level and daily energy/exhaustion. Over time, these devices could do so much more and I followed.

No longer are they just sitting on your shoulder motivating you, but they provide orientation.

“Am I ok today”?

“Is this within my usual range?”

“Is this just a bad night, or a pattern forming?”

The goal isn`t just improvement, but removing uncertainty.

About 5 years ago my beloved Garmin Forerunner watch broke, so I got excited over the massively updated watch that had many amazing functionalities I thought I needed, but never used.

It`s common: Complexity invites uncertainty — every year brings new features, new scores, new interpretations stacked on top of raw signals.

“What does this data mean” often remains unanswered.

My goal is not to demonize wearables, on the contrary, I`m a huge fan and studies show that they are effective in self-monitoring and motivation, at least in terms of initiating behavior change.

The real question with regard to the ever-expanding data pool is:

“Which of these signals deserve attention?”

Imagine your kid at a theme park. There are more options than time to use all of them. You need to make a choice, but which are better than the others? It`s a tough decision.

The problem is that most people were never taught how to answer which signals require their attention. This will make another interesting article, but it goes beyond the idea of this post.

Once you don`t know how to interpret data, hesitation sets in.

• You see a low score and wait

• You notice a trend but don’t act

• You feel fine, but hesitate because the numbers disagree

• Or you feel off and wait for confirmation before trusting it

More feedback doesn’t create clarity here. It suspends judgment.

This is also where doctors might come into play. You might be completely fine, but how can you know.

Doctors are excellent at ruling out disease. They draw boundaries and tell you when something is wrong enough to matter.

When tests come back normal, that’s good news.

But it doesn’t answer the daily question:

How should I orient myself inside normal variation?

So people leave reassured — and still unsure.

People haven’t stopped feeling their bodies. They’ve stopped knowing which sensations are meaningful — and which are just noise from a busy life.

And data, instead of restoring that skill, often interrupts it.

Data is a valuable addition to physical and mental signals, but they require interpretation.

So you don`t have to and shouldn`t choose between either — trust your body or trust the data. In isolation, both fail.

Think of your body as a thermometer. It tells you what’s happening right now.

Data is more like the ocean. It takes time to heat up or cool down — and shows you what’s typical over time.

Understanding lives in the relationship between the two. When one replaces the other, confidence erodes.

In a quieter life, we were able to listen inside and draw the right conclusions.

In a louder one, the busy world we live in, intuition needs context — without having authority taken away from it.

The challenge now isn’t a wall of data that doesn`t speak. It’s finding trust in your own judgement and informing yourself or seeking help where you cannot see through the data.