Far from just tracking your steps and workouts, these days most The best fitness trackers The market is full of features that help you make informed decisions about your health from how well you sleep to how stressed you might feel and where you are in your menstrual cycle.
Learn more about how some of them work Garmin’s best watches In the market for tracking your cycle, we sat down with Jill Kaiser, senior product manager for Garmin, who led the development of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracker.
“Everyone menstruates differently,” Kaiser explained. “We want them to be able to understand and see their trends, just as you see them within your site Body battery featuresIn your sleep and in your performance. The way your body changes during your cycle is very important, so we’re giving that power to the user.”
In addition to showing you where you are in your cycle, Garmin’s Menstrual Tracking feature will give you hints and tips on how to train, depending on your cycle. There are four main phases of the menstrual cycle – menstruation, the follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase. Your hormones will vary at each stage of your cycle, and since exercise affects the balance of hormones, some women find it may be helpful to tailor their exercise routine to their cycle.
For example, progesterone and estrogen are at their lowest levels during menstruation. You may feel less energy and motivation, and find it more difficult to perform fast cardio exercises that involve stamina and endurance.
During the follicular phase, your estrogen levels go up, giving you more energy, making it the best time for high-intensity exercise.
It is also likely that your energy levels will remain high during ovulation, however, you may experience some bloating.
During the luteal phase, your body secretes progesterone to maintain the thick lining of your uterus. Increased progesterone may increase feelings of fatigue. Your body temperature also rises in the luteal phase, which can affect your first workout Stady It found that an increase in body temperature could affect running performance, for example. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should Avoids While you’re running, it can be more challenging to get into quick strides in the sessions.
Read on to learn more about how cycle tracking works on Garmin Connect, and how to add it to your watch.
How does Garmin menstrual tracking work?
Unlike other trackers that look at skin temperature readings, Garmin’s menstrual tracking feature relies on user information. “The user goes in and sets up their cycle information — that’s the start day of their last period and the typical duration of their cycle,” Kaiser said. “And then we have all these scoring features, which include physical symptoms, mood, and layoffs. We also look at the average cycles over time in the report view, which shows you one cycle, six cycles, and a 12 cycle view. We take the six cycles and adjust them together to give our predictions.” .
Currently, while many Garmin watches have an internal temperature sensor, they are not used to measure skin temperature. Although it can be affected by the environment, skin temperature can also be an indicator of basal body temperature – an increase in body temperature indicates ovulation. This may be something we see in future watches and how the devices are like Aura ring And Apple Watch Series 8 predict ovulation.
How to add lap tracking to a Garmin watch
Ready to get started? Here’s how to set up cycle tracking in Garmin Connect, and how to add the Women’s Health widget to your compatible Garmin watch.
- To set up period tracking, sign in to Garmin Connect on your phone or computer
- Open the main menu and select Health stats
- Select your period from the dropdown menu
- Your watch will then ask you for a few details to complete the setup, such as the first day of your last period
- From here, you can start tracking and add additional data in the Add Symptoms and Add Notes sections of the Garmin Connect app.
If you’d rather not have to reach for your phone every time you want to check where you are on your course, you can add course tracking to your watch, but it’s a little tricky. To do this, you’ll need to download the Women’s Health app. Here’s how:
- Click Settings for your Garmin Watch from the Garmin Connect app
- Select the Activities and Apps option
- Click Open Connect IQ Store, then select Women’s Health Tracking
- Once downloaded, you’ll see Women’s Health listed on your watch’s app list, and you’ll be able to see your cycle information included in the list from your wrist.
After the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, women in the United States have been concerned about the safety of period-tracking apps. You can read more about Garmin Privacy Policy Here, plus advice from a cybersecurity expert regarding Keeping your personal data secure.
If you choose not to track from your phone, here it is How to track your menstrual periods without using the app.
