3 min readEnhancewell
Are apps making us less attuned to our bodies?
In the past, “how did you sleep?” was an easy question. You either slept well or you didn’t. Now, we’ve got apps that track our light, deep, and REM cycles, calculate our sleep debt, and monitor our oxygen saturation while we snooze.
Fitness technology ownership is at an all-time high, and it seems everyone you meet is tracking everything from sleep to heart rate variability. However, over-reliance on trackers often detaches us from actual body awareness. And if you’ve been paying attention in class, that’s the exact opposite of the core philosophy of Pilates.
Is it possible to keep the data and the body awareness? Absolutely.
But you need to be intentional about it.
Wear the Wearable… Don’t Let it Control You
We’re not immune to the siren song of lifemaxxing. Antoni wears a Woop, has an Oura he’s never activated, and is currently considering a Hume Band, lured by the promise of detecting chronic conditions earlier than other wearables.
Wearables can tell you what happened, but you are the ultimate authority on how you feel and what you need.
Before you open your app, try a self-scan first. Do you feel rested and recovered? Are you ready for a big workout today, or should you take it easy?
Consider this experiment: Every morning when you wake up, score how well you slept on a scale of 1-10. Then, open your app and record its score. After every workout, score it based on mood, difficulty, and soreness. Then (you guessed it!), check your app and record its notes about your workout. Physically writing these details down can help you keep a check on how you’re feeling in your body andhelp you draw correlations between physical sensations and data points like heart rate zones and recovery.
The Opportunity in the Oura (And Other Wearables)
If you’re a studio owner reading this, you’re in the right place! Your members are connected, and you need to know how to support their whole self— the human and the data (in that order).
Manage your messaging to encourage your members to trust their bodies, using the data as a directional tool rather than as an authority. Become the studio that offers members sustainable wellness support, combining data points with real-world application on the mat.
What Next?
“Did I sleep?” “Did I recover?” Before you know it, you’re facing app overwhelm with so many things to concentrate on.
Don’t let your smartwatch tell you whether you’ve had a good workout or a good night’s sleep. Practice checking in with yourself before you check in with an app. Apps are great— but data can’t beat self-awareness.
Pilates has been around for 100 years. You can’t beat the low-impact, precision movements that build strength and aid recovery. Wearables will keep getting smarter, but a deep connection with your body will never go out of style. Sign up for an Enhancewell Collective Pilates class or private session and restore your mind-body connection!