You Don’t Have to Optimise Everything

Dear Insiders,

We now have more ways than ever to track, measure and improve ourselves.

Sleep scores. Steps. Protein intake. Biological age. Menstrual cycles. Recovery. Heart rate. Productivity.

Most of that information can be useful.

But I’ve been wondering whether we sometimes cross a line from understanding ourselves better into constantly trying to optimise ourselves.

Because once something can be measured, it is very easy to turn it into a target.

A biological age becomes a number to lower. A sleep score becomes something to improve. A workout becomes something to adjust according to an app. Even our bodies start to feel like projects that should be managed more efficiently.

The problem is that our bodies are not spreadsheets.

The science around longevity, for example, is developing quickly, but there is still a large gap between what we can measure and what we can confidently change. The Wellness Insider

The same applies to menstrual-cycle tracking. Paying attention to symptoms can help us understand our own patterns, but current evidence does not support rigid workout rules for every phase of the cycle. The Wellness Insider

Sometimes the information tells us something useful.

Sometimes it simply tells us to pay attention.

And perhaps that is enough.

We do not need to turn every insight about ourselves into another goal.

There should still be room to eat because we are hungry, move because it feels good, rest because we are tired and make choices without first checking whether a number approves.

Read more:

From Cellular Health to Biological Age: What Longevity Science Can Actually Tell Us The Wellness Insider

Should You Change Your Workout During Your Menstrual Cycle?

“Not everything we can measure needs to become something we have to improve.”