For me, the 3 things that most improved my recovery: 1) Hydration 2) 90%+ sleep 3) Clean eating
The 3 that had the most negative impact: 1) High strain 2) Booze 3) Late meal
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Hydration, cold room when sleeping, and Magnesium before bed. I started taking 250mg of Magnesium before bed, saw an immediate increase in HRV and green recoveries.
Disclaimer: Iām not a healthcare professional and everyone should do their own research before taking someoneās advice regarding supplements.
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Biggest things for me are hydration (by far #1), no meals before bed, and alcohol (most likely timing). I can have a few beers during the day and have a pretty solid recovery as long as I drink plenty of water before bed and give my body time to process the alcohol before going to sleep.
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Just got a pop up in my Whoop app to join the Apple beta integration.
Interested to see how it works!
Just got my WHOOP 4.0 and joined the Refuge groupā¦looking forward to how this can help me.
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I heard right now it will only take data from Apple health, not feed data to Apple health.
Thatās coming in the futureā¦ allegedly
Getting about an hour of no screen time before bed always helps me to get the recovery score up a little. Drinking lots of water during the day helps as well. Alcohol is a total recovery killer for me.
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Stupid whoop letting us know alcohol is bad for us
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Long time listener, first time caller. Iāve been reading through this thread for a while now in anticipation of getting one and last week my 4.0 finally arrived.
Iām really hoping it motivates me to hydrate better throughout the day and generally adopt some better habits.
Question: does the sensor portion of the band bother anyone else? Iām trying to wear it fairly tight but Itās making the bottom of my forearm muscle a little sore. Iāve been loosening it up over the last few days which is helping but Iām hoping I just get used to it.
Iāve been looking at and researching Whoop for at least a year. I guess Iām hung up on having to pay monthly for the service. Iām sure everyone in here thinks itās worth it, but if you could do anything different, would you?
And the bigger question, has anyone compared the Whoop to the new Apple Watch? Iām having trouble convincing myself to commit the money to a monthly plan when the alternative is an Apple Watch I could keep forever (ish).
Iāve had some issues with probably wearing mine too tight and the sensors leaving a mark on the top of my wrist. Others had recommended to me splitting which wrist you wear it on to help with that. That may be of service to you.
@tdogg21 yeah the monthly aspect really sucks, I think I rather would have paid the apple watch price or even a little over to have it in perpetuity and be done. Iāve never had an apple watch, but I really wanted something dedicated only to fitness, and definitely did not want another screen in my life, so it was an easy decision for me.
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Frankly it sucked while getting used to. If itās not tight enough youāll be prone to bad readings due to vibration and more.
I remember having to move it arm to arm to give one side a break. Eventually I got used to it and donāt notice it, but I wonāt lie. The first few weeks was incredibly noticable.
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I have come to ignore everything other than five behaviours:
1a donāt drink alcohol
1b if I do, stop 2-3 hours before bed & no more than 2-3 standard drinks (day drinking ftw!)
2 hydration, more than 3L baseline, plus extra for exercise replacement
3 not eating within three hours of bed
4 magnesium at the same time every day
5 cold and totally dark room for sleeping
I can manage the occasional five to six-and-a-half-hour sleep with the above and still manage a green, but not repeatedly. For me, it seems like seven hours of sleep is my number.
I also take an anxiety/stress supplement (JS Health, might not be available outside Australia), which Iām not sure of the impact of on the above, but I agree with whoever said stress impacts recovery and it definitely helps me feel less stressed and anxious.
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Something to check, especially if you have the Whoop 3.0, is that you have the strap threaded correctly.
Having done a lot of things right since dry January (no alcohol, meditation before bed, stretching, lots of water), I think the two things that make a big impact are 1) over strain (staying under 15 strain seems to encourage green recovery) and 2) getting enough sleep (which for me means going to bed early). The strain one is interesting because itās a real balance. Over strain is good for fitness but bad for recovery. One of my 2022 goals is more green than yellow recovery and that might require adding some more rest days!
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This was my recovery today after having margarita and a late night paloma last night. 
My recovery seems far more dependent on strain and sleep than alcohol. Of course when I go super hard on booze and wake up feeling like shit the recovery matches it.
But my usual daily intake doesnāt seem to sway it much.
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If Iām happy to feel a bit shit the next day, I ignore any and all of the above.
On Saturday night I drank two bottles of champagne and about 15 jelly shots at my wifeās birthday party, ate four hotdogs and deleted half a charcuterie board. I felt like arse all Sunday and it was totally worth it (I also take my whoop off when Iām doing a number on myself so as not to bastardise my baseline).
But BAU when Iāve got work, kids to wrangle, golf and other activities that I want to enjoyā¦ I know the recipe for being primed and feeling fucking fantastic.
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I wish I could either pay the higher price (because then I could feel I had something to sell if I decided it wasnāt for me) or if there was a way to try it out for a few months first. I think I will like it, but I donāt want to spend the money to find out I donāt.
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First time flying with the Whoop tonight, does TSA make you take it off?