If you have landed here I encourage you to read the first part of this two part post.
After my Firstbeat life assessment was completed I sent back the equipment and awaited the results.
Just a week later I was contacted by Tiina, who is extremely qualified to provide the feedback:
Tiina Hoffman is involved in training our international customers for well-being and performance services. She has a B.Sc. degree from the University of Alaska and an M.Sc. degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Jyväskylä. She is a former cross-country skiing coach at the University of Alaska and has also worked in academic research in heart rate variability field studies. Ms. Hoffman has gained significant experience in the principles of delivering quality heartbeat measurement based services in the corporate wellness sector.
The assessment results are very detailed and cover the following:
- Stress and recovery charts for each day
- Overview of sleep for each night
- Health promoting physical activity charts for each day
- Heath affects and energy expenditure for each day
- Training effect report for each activity
- Lifestyle inspection
To be very honest I was shocked at the data they were able to lift off from the sensor and then articulate into all these categories.
Example reports seen here
Stress and recovery
This is such an important measurement for us all, the ability to understand how we work and how it affects not only our work but family lives is critical. I had a good few observations, that I will not go into detail in public :-)
The main learning for me in this area is to really ensure that I can split the work (stress) time from the relaxing (recovery) time.... and ensure that I get enough recovery time.
CLICK HERE FOR EXAMPLE
Overview of sleep
Sleep is key for us all, its the time our body rests and recovers, see above.
This for me was an area I thought I would score low on, however the results painted a different picture. Whilst the amount of sleep I get is on the low side, once I go to bed I go to sleep very quickly and the quality of my sleep is very high, so straight into the recovery mode and free from stress. So I was pretty happy to hear that :-)
Health promoting physical activity & health affects and energy expenditure
I trained on each of the days and these charts simlpy captured the activity based on "fitness promotion or health promotion", which if even the lightest of actvity would have been captured. The only drawback with the sensor is that it is not waterproof so there was no data collection during activity, however the training effect associated with is would have been captured.
CLICK HERE FOR EXAMPLE
Training effect report
Since I had two training session I received further, deeper assesment on the results: EPOC and training effect, training clssification (VO2, fast and slow distance). These were of huge interest to me since my training sessions were very different: one was my local run around where I live and done at quite a high level and the second session was more a recovery session on the elipical trainer.
CLICK HERE FOR EXAMPLE REPORT
The results fully explained how the sessions differed from each other, one promoting cardiorespiratory fitness whilst the other improving health and well-being.
Lifestyle inspection
In summary, whilst there was nothing I needed to change - it was a timely reminder that the body is working 24 hours and that the less time we leave for recovery could have a detrimental affect to ones overall lifestyle.
The final part of this was to set some goals and make those small changes :-)
After completing the assessment and going through the results I would whole heartedly recommend this to everyone and anyone. Should you be looking to have a better understanding of your activity, your stress levels, or indeed your lifestyle, the good folk at firstbeat you be the next people you contact
My thanks go out to Tiina and the Firstbeat team, its been a real insight to how my lifestyle and body are functioning :-)
For more info visit these first beat web pages
Thanks
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