Whoop’s ‘Healthspan’ Age Estimation Feature Coming to These Older Devices
When Whoop 5.0 and MG launched in May, one of the most exciting new features was Healthspan, which lets you assess your body’s aging process. Previously, this feature was only available to Whoop 5.0 or MG subscribers, but it’s now coming to Whoop 4.0.
Whoop 4.0 is still a great tracker . The main benefits of version 5.0 are the improved battery life and the Healthspan feature, which was missing from version 4.0 until recently. If you’re looking to keep your 4.0 (perhaps to use your collection of bands or just don’t want to shell out for an early upgrade), this announcement is great news.
What is Healthspan?
Healthspan is a Whoop feature that calculates your “Whoop age” (younger is better) and “aging rate.” So if your Whoop age is 5 years younger than your actual age, you can be confident in your health.
Of course, that’s a made-up number. Many wearables and health apps will calculate your age by subtracting years if you exercise a lot and have a “healthy” BMI. (Oura and Garmin estimate my age to be about 10 years younger than I actually am; Ultrahuman is more accurate, saying my actual age is almost exactly my real age.) I haven’t unlocked my Whoop age yet, since the first estimate requires several weeks of data.
Whoop says Healthspan looks at nine key metrics:
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Sleep Constancy
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Total hours of sleep
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Daily steps
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Time in heart rate zones 1–3
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Time in heart rate zones 4–5
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Time for strength training
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Estimated VO2max
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Resting heart rate
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Estimated lean body mass
Healthspan is not a scientifically validated metric. In other words, I can’t compare the value I get from Whoop to “real” lifespan, because there is no such thing. So it’s impossible to accurately assess how well Whoop estimates lifespan.
It’s worth noting, somewhat cynically, that improving your health requires more interaction with the Whoop device than usual. If you don’t wear it all day, your daily step count will be lower. If you don’t log every strength workout in the app, it won’t count. Like the Apple Watch’s “standing hours,” some of these health metrics also measure how hard you’re using the device.
When will Healthspan move to version 4.0?
Whoop has been hinting at Healthspan coming to older devices for a while now, but now we have a firm date. Today, Whoop announced that Peak members with 4.0 devices will be able to access the Healthspan feature starting August 5.
Peak is the middle membership level, the one you were probably automatically upgraded to if you have a 4.0 device and haven’t taken any action to upgrade your membership.