Discover four underutilized advanced health features of Apple Watch

Four Hidden Apple Watch Health Features

VOMAX

There are two reasons to hide VO2 Max on your Apple Watch. First, even though you're looking for the metric, it's off by default and goes by a different name on watchOS/iOS: Cardio Fitness.

Second, once enabled, VO2 max/Cardio Fitness measurements are only recorded with Apple Watch during brisk walks, walks, or outdoor runs (specifically those selected in the Apple Watch Workout app).

Even though you'll get VO2 max readings less frequently because it's only measured for three workout types, it's a feature well worth setting up.

In addition to helping understand your cardiorespiratory fitness, research shows that VO2 max is a good indicator of overall health and predicts long-term health. Check out our full tutorial on setting up and using VO2 max:

Heart Rate Variability

The Apple Watch automatically captures heart rate variability (HRV), but in the wearable's native Heart Rate app Unable to view. To see it, you need to go to your iPhone's Health app > Browse > Heart.

What is HRV? It measures how the time between heartbeats changes, measured in milliseconds - it's worth noting that this is a highly variable metric, so it's important to look at broad trends rather than day-to-day numbers.

Many in the medical field consider HRV to be not only a strong indicator of current overall health and the heart and body's ability to recover, but also a strong predictor of future mortality.

HRV is also often used as a signal to know when the body is ready to exercise or rest. All of this is due to the fact that HRV shows how responsive the heart is to our autonomic nervous system.

Heart Rate Recovery

Heart rate recovery is more discreet than HRV because it automatically displays on Apple Watch and iPhone after tracking a workout.

But what does this mean? Like HRV, heart rate recovery can be an indicator of heart health by how well it listens to the autonomic nervous system.

Studies show that abnormally low heart rate recovery is a strong predictor of a 2-fold increase in the likelihood of death within six years.

Basal Metabolic Rate

The Apple Watch highlights active calories burned, but what about passive calories (also called basal metabolic rate)?

While the Apple Watch will track it, it's not visible on the wearable and you'll need to go to the Health app on your iPhone and do some math.

Knowing your passive calorie burn/basal metabolic rate is valuable because it can show you the impact of increasing muscle mass (more muscle = more passive calorie burn). Of course, knowing how much to eat is also key if you want a calorie deficit or a calorie surplus.

If you want to learn more about your metabolism in real-time, I recommend checking out the Lumen Pocket Metabolism Analyzer that works with Apple Health.

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