Hello! In this article, we'll go into depth about what each of your sub-scores means, how they're evaluated and how you can improve them in your day-to-day life:
The Optimity Health Grade™ takes many things into consideration. In order to give you something that you can better use to improve your health, we’ve grouped some of these into sub-scores.
We’ve used scientific research, academic journals, and government statistics to calculate your sub-scores. Here’s a brief overview of the various sub-scores and why they’re important:
Steps:
Research has shown taking more than 6,000 steps every day greatly improves your likelihood of living longer. Get up off that chair or couch and get out and enjoy the world around you. If you can’t do 6,000 steps right away, do what you can and gradually look to increase it as you feel more able. Joining a walking club or taking a stroll with a few friends can make you feel better. You can also challenge a friend or two to a Step Together Challenge and encourage each other to get healthier. Make sure to come back in-app daily to sync your steps with either your wearable or health app on your phone!
Weight:
Maintaining a consistent and healthy weight plays a major role in your overall physical health as obesity can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and more. Lower numbers on the scale aren't always better though as being underweight also has risks.
We calculate a healthy weight using research recommended ranges of Body Mass Index (BMI) and based on your height. In some cases, you can be outside of the recommended range and still be very healthy. A good example is for athletes where the weight of their muscles may make them outside the ideal range.
Active Minutes:
To count as an active minute, you need to exercise harder than just walking. This includes everything from a brisk walk to an intense workout. Exercising every day is best but it’s completely OK if you get your 150 minutes in a few workouts over the week. As you know, getting regular exercise is strongly linked to an overall positive impact on holistic health, and helps you lead a healthier life.
If your device can track active minutes, simply enable “active minutes tracking” in the Optimity app and then open the app daily to sync your active minutes. If not, don’t worry, just make sure to enter the number of active minutes for us to update your Health Grade.
Sleep:
Getting a good night’s sleep has a positive impact on your physical and mental health. Not getting enough quality sleep shows a direct connection to multiple health factors such as increased stress and risk of cardiovascular disease. The ideal amount of sleep for adults is between 7-9 hours per night.
To achieve this goal, try to set and stay consistent with a sleeping routine that allows you to get 7-9 hours on a nightly basis. Once a sleeping routine changes it’s hard to get back into the swing of things.
Once a month you’ll be asked to update your estimate of how much sleep you get nightly in order to keep your Optimity Health Grade™ up-to-date.
Nutrition:
Nutrition rich in fruits and vegetables can lower blood pressure, reduce heart disease and stroke risk, and so much more! You should always have 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day and ensure that you eat a variety of them to keep things interesting.
The nutrition sub-score is based on the quizzes and surveys you complete over time. To improve your nutrition, continue to keep up-to-date with our quizzes to learn about all of the healthy nutrition options with recipe tips and more to inspire you.
Stress:
Too much stress is no fun. It’s also linked to a number of health issues and can harm both your physical and mental health. Long periods of high stress can lead to cardiovascular diseases through high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes, harming your immune system as well as causing depression and other mental health issues.
Stress can be caused by a variety of factors. Taking time for yourself, spending time with loved ones, reducing screen time and more can all help.
VO2 max (Not yet part of the Optimity Health Grade™):
VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can access while you’re exercising. It measures how efficiently your heart is able to push oxygen-rich blood to your muscles and body.
Your VO2 max helps determine the current health of your heart and your fitness level; generally speaking the higher the VO2 max the better. You can improve your VO2 max by doing regular aerobic exercise (walking, running, swimming, etc.) into your routine and getting rid of unhealthy habits like smoking.
You’ll need a smartwatch or similar device to track this metric. Again, if you have a device that has the capability to track this metric, be sure to open the Optimity app daily to allow it to sync. If not, not to worry, as we have a method of accurately calculating your Health Grade without this metric.
spO2 (Not yet part of the Optimity Health Grade™):
spO2 is a measure of the amount of oxygen that your blood is carrying. A normal level of oxygen saturation is typically 95% or higher and if your spO2 is lower than 90% you should speak to your doctor.
Resting Heart Rate (RHR) (Not yet part of the Optimity Health Grade™):
Your resting heart rate is one of the indicators of your physical health. For adults, your resting heart rate will typically be somewhere between 60-100 beats per minute. This tends to increase as you age and women typically have a slightly higher RHR than men. Some elite athletes have resting heart rates under 60 but this isn’t typical for most people.
If you have a higher resting heart rate, getting more exercise can help to bring this down over time. If you have a device that measures resting heart rate, be sure to allow the app to work with it and it will update whenever you open the Optimity app.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) (Not yet part of the Optimity Health Grade™):
Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of the small differences in time between heartbeats. It requires specific equipment, like a smartwatch or cardiogram at your doctor’s office or a hospital, to track these tiny changes.
HRV will vary from person to person, and there are published tables and charts to help you understand how you are doing. Stress has a big impact on it so it’s important to keep an eye on it as it can indicate that something may be not right. If it’s consistently out of normal ranges, you should check with your doctor.
To track your HRV in the app, you’ll need to enable the Optimity app to collect this data.
Feel free to reach out to Optimity Support at support@myoptimity.com for any further questions, concerns, or assistance.
Happy Stepping!
Team Optimity
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