Earlier in January, I talked about measuring your goals over the year and shared a health traits analysis survey along with a longevity test you could complete. Whatever your goals, tracking how your body is doing overall is a good idea. Today, I cover three easy health measures that provide a lot of insights about various health traits across different levels of the body. I’ve found them to be incredibly useful.
HRV Status – What Your Heartbeat Can Tell You
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has exploded in popularity thanks to Garmin, WHOOP, and other smartwatches. It measures the small differences in time between heartbeats—where greater variability is a sign of a more responsive and well-regulated nervous system.
I was a little skeptical of HRV at first, assuming it was just a reflection of sleep quality. However, during a super detox last August, I saw my HRV jump to levels I had never recorded before, despite no change in my sleep. It remained elevated for an extended period, showing that something deeper was happening in my body. Similarly, during the recent illness that was going around, my HRV dropped even though I didn’t feel particularly sick or need to stop training.
With so many things influencing HRV—stress, training, recovery, hydration, sleep, aerobic fitness levels, diet and more—it’s an incredibly useful tool. One drawback is that you need to wear your smartwatch overnight to get the most accurate reading. HRV is most valuable when you track trends over time rather than comparing your score to others. The general rule is: the higher, the better. Many athletes use it to guide their training intensity, and even elite-level runners like Jakob Ingebrigtsen have shared their HRV data (see here>>>).
Control Pause – A Simple Breathing Test with Big Implications
I’ve used this method for years after researching Buteyko breathing, a technique initially designed to help manage asthma by reducing over-breathing. While I got rid of my asthma through dietary changes, I was surprised to find I still had the classic breathing pattern of an asthmatic. Buteyko breathing exercises helped me change that—and one of the key tests they use is the Control Pause.
Here’s how to do it:
-Take a few normal breaths, then exhale as usual.
-Hold your breath and time how long until you feel the natural urge to breathe again.
-The breath you take after should feel normal, not like a deep gasp for air.
-This is NOT a maximal breath-hold; it’s a measurement of your body’s tolerance to CO₂, which reflects your breathing efficiency.
What I’ve found with myself and clients is how much this score fluctuates based on lifestyle factors—whether you’ve trained, what you’ve eaten, how well you’ve slept, and even your stress levels. It’s an easy test to do, and I found it highly motivational. After all, if you can’t comfortably go without air for a few seconds, that seems like something worth improving.
Aiming for a Control Pause of at least 20 seconds is a solid goal, while 40 seconds or more is ideal. Some advanced practitioners reach 60 seconds or beyond.
Body Temperature – A Window into Your Metabolism
Your internal body temperature is a direct reflection of your metabolism. Whenever I’ve done longer fasts—like my 5-day ones—or when I was deep in bodybuilding contest prep after weeks of dieting, I noticed how cold I felt. I’d be shivering in mild temperatures, struggling to stay warm. The flip side is that when I’m eating normally, I can stand outside training people in 2°C weather for hours without an issue.
Your body temperature is influenced by how much food you eat, the types of food, your sleep quality, your training routine, and more. It’s a great general indicator of metabolic strength.
You can track your temperature using a simple thermometer. Some people, like the late nutrition researching Ray Peat, measured temperature before and after eating to gauge whether their body was running on adrenaline due to low blood sugar. Your temperature is a simple yet powerful indicator of your metabolic health, reflecting how well your body is fuelled, recovered, and functioning on a daily basis.
What Does This Mean For You
These three markers—HRV, Control Pause, and Body Temperature—are simple yet powerful ways to check in on your health. Outside of the watches, they don’t require expensive tests or complicated tracking, just a little curiosity and consistency.
Try measuring one or all of them for the next couple of weeks and see what patterns emerge. You might discover key insights that help you improve your training, recovery, or overall well-being.
If you want guidance on interpreting your results or how to optimize these markers, message me.
Video – Taking your control pause before doing some Butekyo breathing.
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