Readiness: nothing makes sense!

[sgbednar]

OK.  So the HR monitor is crazy.  I don't seem to earn zone minutes anymore.  I understand there is nothing I can do about that but complain and hope they fix it.  But this is beyond bizarre.  My Readiness advice is roughly as follows this morning:

Readiness Score = 25 (low) due to not enough sleep.  I should take it easy and prioritize sleep.  

Activity = light.  My body is not showing significant fatigue, even though I've been more active.  I can continue to push myself today.

Sleep = low.  I HAVE been getting enough sleep lately.  

HRV = within personal range.  I am getting the recovery I need to match my activity level.  

This is crazy making!  I guarantee you this thing will query me several times today about how I feel, and I will be sorely tempted to throw it in the trash!  

If the data this thing collects is faulty  nothing else works.  If they don't fix the HR monitor, it is a 100% useless device.  

[t.parker]

@sgbednar In this thread I gave an explanation why DRS makes no sense and due to its reliance on AZM it produces quite a misleading results. At least, looking at it from an athlete perspective. You may find it interesting (the whole thread is a good read).

[sgbednar]

Thanks.  I will look through it.  These scores made some sense on my Inspire 2, except when something bad happenned with my sleep data.  Then all bets were off!  This just absolutely makes no sense at all.  I am strongly tempted to remove everything from my app except for steps, sleep data, and the metrics derived from sleep data.  I can use my step count, sleep data, what I did yesterday, and my own common sense to decide what to do on a given day.  My arthritis pain usually stops me long before anything else does anyway.  Plus, if I really did overdo it the day before, I would be in pain, I would have had a bad night's sleep, which would be reflected in my sleep data, plus my HRV would usually be crashing.  So all of their pretend analysis doesn't really help me.  And it sure does not help me to be questioned about how I feel every few hours.  It might help if they connected some dots, like noticing that when I don't sleep well I tend to feel stressed, or that when I am too sedentary I tend to feel sad.  It doesn't seem to do anything useful with that data.  It just likes to interrupt me periodically to ask repetitive questions.  Maybe I should turn all of that stuff off too.  I know when I am stressed!  

I decided to stay with Fitbit when I bought the Sense 2, because I need good sleep data and a step counter.  Maybe I should ignore the rest...

End of rant...at least for now!

[t.parker]

@sgbednar your case seems to be an opposite to mine which shows that Readiness can't show usefulness for both -  ahtletes and people with some limitationa due to various reasons. I was always thinking that maybe it would work in the latter case as Fitbit isn't really marketed for athletes but you show a different picture 🤔 that makes me ask for who DRS is really designed...

You may still try to use the feature but probably need to see it as relative number. The problem you have is that for the levels of sleep and activity which Fitbit considers normal you have quite a different body response. Fitbit doesn't take that into account (certain data taken out of context won't mean anything). Moreover, Fitbit loves assigning labels like "poor", "excellent", etc. I believe, some people would rather decide for themselves what is considered poor or excellent. And this is where the wheels are falling off. It's similar to the showcase I linked with difference between 5k (all-out intensity) and 10k (easy intensity) runs. For athlete, this 5k will be more demanding but Fitbit will decide that 10k is the one granting more AZM, hence harder (which is a false assumption leading to wrong DRS). Your case shows similar issues just from the other side of the spectrum. If you can't figure out the DRS for yourself then just ignore it (and prioritize listening to your body rather than a magic number).

[sgbednar]

In the end, data is just data.  One thing I've learned is that I need to draw my own conclusions about it, since Fitbit doesn't know me.  I just wish that it would provide more accurate data.  That's where it's utility lies.  I'm afraid they have gotten themselves so involved in trying to keep up with various smart watches that they forgot that their core usefulness is in providing accurate data.  

On a more humorous note, I suddenly earned 23 zone minutes last night for intense activity, without having done anything out of the ordinary.  The trigger?  I had a rather heated "discussion" with one of my horses in the close confines of his stall, and was afraid he was going to flatten me!   So I guess if you didn't get around to exercising and need zone minutes, just subject yourself to something fear inducing.  You'll rack up zone minutes in a big hurry!  Don't want to run?  Watch a horror flick instead!