Self quantification is the process of using tests, or trackers to improve the quality of your over all wellness. Biofeedback, or listening to your body is the best form of testing, but using technology can be very helpful. I’m going to go over basic tests that will give you a gage on where you are so you can make improvements. Sleep trackers and movement trackers can be helpful for letting you know your sleep quality, movement, and glycemic variability.

Basic Testing

Gut-

Testing the gut is very important because it’s considered the root of all disease. When something is wrong with the gut, your not going to feel well, so it’s important to test for infections. The Genova 3 day stool panel is great for this because it uses microscopy, an enzyme immunoassay and colorimetry to test for the presence of enzymes, specific compounds, antibodies, hormones and many more things in the gut. It’s important to use a test that is more than a day because you may not get everything.

Micronutrient deficiencies-

Nutrient deficiencies can cause a host of issues. If your deficient in something, that means your not able to do the processes that the nutrient enables, or not do them as well.

Microbiome-

We have about 40 trillion microbes that are responsible for everything to hormones, digestion, and immunity. The microbiome can be tested through a variety of methods. The most popular one is called Viome. This will give you insight into the state of your microbes, and give specific recommendations. These are not incredibly accurate yet, but can be useful.

Genetics-

When your genes are tested, most of the time they’re only testing a small amount of them. Some companies sequence the whole genome like the DNA company. If your going to use a service like 23 and me, you should upload it to sites like strategene to get more insights on your genetics and recommendations.

Food sensitivities-

Most food sensitivity tests are incredibly inaccurate. This is because they only test for the IGG anti-body. Cyrex is the only test I know that is accurate with good results. They test multiple forms of the food like cooked, or raw. Also, you may react with foods when they’re in combination with other foods. Sensitivities and allergies are two different things. Sensitivities may give you symptoms that you may not be aware of, like joint pain, or headaches. A food allergy is more serious, and can be deadly.

Wellness Tracking

Oura ring-

The Oura ring is a sleep and movement tracker that is very effective. For sleep, it tracks bed time, latency, REM and non REM sleep, sleep efficiency, sleep stages, wake up time, total sleep, and a sleep score. For readiness, it can track HRV (heart rate variability), respiratory rate, temperature, and resting heart rate. Activity levels are tracked with steps and total activity.

Whoop-

The Whoop is very similar to the Oura ring except it’s a strap instead of a ring. It tracks heart rate, HRV, ambient temperature, acclerometry, and skin conductivity. With these measurements, it can track sleep and activity.

Continuous glucose monotor-

A CGM can monitor your blood glucose. This is just not for people with diabetes, but anyone who want to improve their health. Tracking glucose can give insights to foods and activities that are optimal for you personally. They’re are many out there, but the best one is probably called levels. This has a painless way of tracking, and can be put on your arm. The sensor can monitor glucose throughout the day and connect to an app. The app will give you adjustments to make to your lifestyle.