Which Features Are Must-Haves When Selecting a Wearable Health Device Like an Apple Watch?

Hey, it's J.J. here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating, and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order. Hey, JJ here. Can you believe how fast the holidays are knocking at the door this year? One minute it's pumpkin spice season, the next you're getting your guest room ready and wondering where their wrapping paper went. And that's when I turned to Wayfair. From bedding and towels to holiday decor and last minute stocking stuffers, Wayfair has everything you need to get your home and holidays together fast. And for way less. With Wayfair, I know I can refresh my guest room in no time. Maybe I'll add a soft new comforter or a few holiday throw pillows. With Wayfair, it's so easy and everything arrives super fast. Plus, there's free shipping for any order over $35 easy and total peace of mind. So whether you're hosting, gifting, or just adding those final festive touches, Wayfair has your back. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less, head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style, every home that's W A Y f a I r.com Ray Ban.

Meta Glasses come with Open Ear Audio so you can listen to your favorite music without blocking out the world around you.

Hey Meta, Play Gorgeous. Here's Gorgeous by Doja Cat.

You can also ask Meta AI questions.

Hey Meta, when's Doja Cat's next concert?

Doja Cat is playing at the Los Angeles Theater next Tuesday.

Sweet Ray Ban Meta Glasses available at Ray Ban stores and other authorized retailers.

Which features are must haves when selecting a wearable health device like an Apple Watch? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert, and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions, and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Josie from Facebook asks which features are must haves when selecting a wearable health device like an Apple Watch. All right, I am going to unpack this because as usual, it depends. I'll be right back with the answer.

Hey, it's J.J. here. Now let's be honest. The holidays are basically a financial ambush. Travel, hosting gifts, surprise holiday school things. Suddenly you're wondering how December turned into a spending spree. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone. What really grabbed my attention is how fast those little holiday expenses pile up with Monarch. Seeing everything in one place makes it a lot harder to accidentally overspend, and honestly, I appreciate anything that keeps me from starting January with a money hangover. You'll love exploring the holiday spending category. Imagine how good it will feel to actually see what's happening before your credit card statement does that whole dramatic reveal thing. Monarch basically shows you exactly where the money is going in real time, and that level of clarity could change everything, right? Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year. @monarch.com with code Virgin, saving on your.

Education should be a right, not a competition. At University of Phoenix, you'll get the best scholarship or savings you qualify for. Simple as that. Explore scholarship options at University of Phoenix.

Okay, so if you've been listening to any of my lives or podcasts, you know the joke I make is I wear an OURA ring and an Apple watch, and then I choose which one gives me the, the information I want to see, which means, like, which one's giving me the better night's sleep. So here's what I would say with any of these things. First of all, as you know what you measure and monitor, you can improve. So I love looking at specific metrics and I'm going to give you a couple that I really like to look at and why I like to look at them. So that's the first part of it. And then the second part of it is they all have something that's inconsistent. You know, I mean, when you're looking at sleep, how's it going to check? It's gotta check your pulse, it's gonna check your temperature, it's gonna check your movement, and it's then going to make predictions. Are you in light sleep? Are you in deep sleep? Are you in REM sleep? Are you awake? Are you restless? Right. What you're really looking for is the same using the same one time after time. Because if you flip from different ones, like my joke of using, you know, the Oura ring or the apple, at one point I was wearing the aura, the apple and the Garmin. It's like, holy smokes.

So the first thing I'm going to.

Want to look at. And you know, when you look at these things, most of what you're going to track is sleep and movement, right? And there's a couple things that you want to know for sleep. You really want to know when we look at optimal sleep being somewhere between seven and nine hours, and that's a whole other podcast on what's optimal sleep. But there's a difference between time in bed and sleep. And so you might go, oh, I get eight hours of sleep at night, I go to get in bed at 10, I get up at 6. Well, no, you don't, because you didn't just fall straight asleep when you got in bed and stay asleep the entire time. So what you're looking for from one of these devices to tell you, hey.

How quickly did you fall asleep?

Did you stay asleep? And then what about waking up? Because as you know or don't know, but if you start to unpack sleep, you realize we have these 90 minute increments where we start to go through sleep cycles. And so what you're really looking for is are you fully going through each of these sleep cycles? Because that's one of the big tests of sleep quality. So that will help you look at and go, how am I doing on light and REM and deep with REM and deep, of course, being the ones that you're really wanting to focus on. And what about restlessness? Now, the next thing that you can get from them is your HRV and your oxygen and your heart rate. So obviously you're getting heart rate because you're getting heart rate variability. But these are the other ones that are great to look at because your heart rate variability is really going to be a test of, you know, how well are you recovering, how's your overall fitness? And sleep, of course, feeds into that. So those are the things I'm going to look at at from one of these devices. And you'll get that at the Garmin, you'll get that from the Apple Watch, you'll get that from the Oura Ring. But again, none of them are 100% accurate. So it's really what you'll use and wear and keep on. There was this. When all this first tracking first started, I went to a press conference because this new company had started one that you wore on your forehead. And so they gave us all this thing to wear on our forehead that night. And the next morning we were gonna come down with our data. Problem was I couldn't sleep with that thing on my forehead. It just kept me up. And I kept thinking about as I was trying to sleep with the thing on my forehead, I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have the worst sleep in this room. And it kept getting later and I couldn't sleep, and it was later and I couldn't sleep. And then I finally fell asleep. And then I discovered that in the middle of sleep, I threw the thing off my forehead so there would be one not to. So what is the thing that you will use? So that's the first part, and then the second part of it is really monitoring your movement.

Right.

And what do we want to know there? We want to know, I think, most importantly, like, you know, when you went to the gym, right, and you're knowing, like, the level of how hard you're working out. What I want to know is the rest of the time, what are you up to? Are you standing more than sitting? Are you moving as much as possible? And that's the other thing that I look for with this, is what's going on with your movement and is it tracking you and telling you, hey, get up, get up and go, move. And so that's the other one that I would look at here. So we're looking at sleep, we're looking at hrv, and we're looking at movement. And movement reminders so that you're not sitting all the time. Because we've all heard that sitting's the new smoking, right? All right. And again, most important is pick one you'll use what you monitor you can improve. So focus on getting those metrics where you want them to be. Because guess what? A healthy person will be lean and fit and all of that. If you put the right habits in place, the habits are going to predict how healthy you are. Now you might have to do some other things intervention wise if you got some stuff going on, but for the most part, you're habits are really going.

To dictate your health.

So this helps you get those healthy habits into place. This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I answer your questions weekly, plus I interview the top experts in health and wellness. So make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetoj.com yep, it's that easy. I'll see you next time.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I tag all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change, or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.