Live numbers
The points with a red centre on the body are real readings from my watch. Here's where they come from, and what stays private.
The graphs behind the numbers show the last four weeks.
How they get here
- My watch records heart rate, overnight HRV and workouts.
- Every morning, a small sync script on my computer downloads that data from Garmin.
- Right after that, another script picks out exactly these numbers and the weekly training hours, and sends them to this site. Nothing else leaves my computer.
- The site's server only accepts numbers signed with a key that is on my computer, and it checks that they look like these numbers before storing them.
The heart in the figure beats at the resting heart rate shown here.
The ECG is simulated
My watch doesn't record an ECG. The strip is built from my real averages: the average time between beats comes from my resting heart rate, and each beat is a little shorter while breathing in and longer while breathing out, like a real heart. That variation is sized so its RMSSD matches my HRV, and the RMSSD under the strip is worked out live from the simulated beats. The heart in the figure beats on the same rhythm.
What each number means
Resting heart rate
The average of the last seven daily resting heart rates my watch measured. A lower value usually means better aerobic fitness, but it also moves with sleep, stress, illness and heat.
HRV
Heart rate variability: how much the time between heartbeats varies. This is the average of the last seven overnight values from my watch, in milliseconds. It's most useful compared with my own normal range, not with other people.
The status and the shaded band come from Garmin. It compares my 7-day average with my own normal range, worked out from the last few weeks. "Balanced" means inside that range.
Training load
Garmin's load for the last seven days: every workout counts by how hard it was on the body, not just how long it was. The shaded band is the range that suits what I've done over the last four weeks. Below it I'm recovering or losing fitness, above it I'm ramping up fast.
Training
Total time of recorded workouts in the last seven days, compared with my weekly average over the past year (the dashed line). Walks don't count.
What stays private
No sleep data, stress, locations, routes or workout names. These are wellness numbers from a consumer watch, not medical measurements.