This is a short 2 minute update on previous posts about using a Garmin smartwatch to measure stress and sleep body metrics. The first post was focused on the Vivoactive and Garmin Connect. The second was on what to do with the data.
Let’s get into my latest personal discovery. In the article Garmin Connect Body Battery Metric the possible correlation of Stress and alcohol was mentioned. For me, I sleep better and have more energy when not drinking alcohol and this realization led to a significant drop in consumption. I had gone several days sans alcohol and was seeing fairly stable results in the stress data.
Then a friend invited me to dinner and we had a glass of wine at his house. At dinner he and I shared a bottle of wine since our wives don’t drink. Over 3.5 hours I consumed three full glasses or 3/4 of a bottle. While there was a euphoric feeling, I didn’t feel drunk. That night there was no headaches, dry mouth, or other typical side-effects of inebriation though I woke up more than normal. And, the next morning no physical effects of a hangover though I definitely felt low energy.
Here is the first chart showing what happened. Look at the spikes in the orange bars at around 6:30 which is roughly an hour after my first sip and when the alcohol stopped being metabolized faster than my consumption rate.
The second chart is of my sleep that night and the stress levels that continued. Remember I stopped drinking at around 9 pm the night before yet the high stress levels (orange bars) indicative of higher HRV (heart rate variability) continued well into the next day.
Any good statistical analyst will say this is point data — for me, there is no doubt what alcohol is doing. It took two days for my body to have normal stress numbers.
Alcohol affects everyone differently based on prior use, genetics, age, etc and I am not saying no one should drink alcohol ever. In my case, consumption is going to stay very low. Never say never, but I will say I am not feeling it to have a drink these days.
Links: Garmin Connect Body Metric (part 2), Using a Garmin Watch-… (part 1) 5 Reasons Your Body Battery Says You Are Running Low (good article on Garmin that explains the Body Battery software), Trek Sumo post about Body Battery and Alcohol
