Start With What You Can Measure Continuously
The most valuable biomarkers are not necessarily the most exotic ones — they are the ones you can track consistently over time. A lab test gives you a point-in-time snapshot. A wearable gives you continuous time-series data. The time-series is almost always more valuable for understanding your health dynamics.
Vitalis stores all your biomarker data in TimescaleDB time-series storage, enabling patterns and correlations that point-in-time measurements cannot reveal. The key is not which individual biomarker is highest on some priority list — it is building a complete picture of your health over time.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Recovery & Autonomic FunctionWhat It Measures
HRV measures the variation in time between consecutive heartbeats. Higher variability generally indicates better recovery, lower physiological stress, and stronger parasympathetic nervous system activity.
Why It Matters
HRV is the most sensitive daily indicator of your readiness to train, stress load, and immune function. A drop in your personal HRV baseline is often the first detectable sign of overtraining, illness onset, or poor sleep quality.
How to Track
Daily, via wearable (Oura, Whoop, Polar H10) or morning HRV measurement. Personal baseline is critical — compare to your own 30-day average, not population norms.
In Vitalis
Vitalis tracks HRV time-series, alerts on significant deviations, and correlates drops with sleep, training, alcohol, and nutrition data.
Sleep Stages
Recovery & Brain HealthWhat It Measures
Modern wearables distinguish deep (slow-wave) sleep, REM sleep, light sleep, and awake periods. Each stage serves different recovery functions: deep sleep for physical repair, REM for memory consolidation and emotional processing.
Why It Matters
Deep sleep duration correlates with physical recovery quality. REM sleep influences cognitive performance, mood, and learning. Tracking stages — not just total duration — reveals whether you are getting restorative sleep.
How to Track
Nightly via wearable. Look for trends over weeks, not individual nights. Consistency of timing (sleep/wake windows) often matters more than duration.
In Vitalis
Vitalis tracks all sleep stages, identifies patterns (late eating reducing deep sleep, alcohol suppressing REM), and correlates sleep architecture with next-day readiness.
Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
Cardiovascular HealthWhat It Measures
Your heart rate at complete rest. Lower RHR generally indicates better cardiovascular fitness. Elevated RHR above your personal baseline signals stress, illness onset, overtraining, or poor recovery.
Why It Matters
RHR is a lagging indicator — changes slowly as fitness improves — but a sensitive early warning for acute physiological stress. An RHR 5+ bpm above baseline frequently precedes illness by 24-48 hours.
How to Track
Daily via wearable during sleep or on waking. Track as a trend, not single readings.
In Vitalis
Vitalis monitors RHR as part of illness early-warning, correlating elevations with HRV suppression for higher confidence predictions.
Blood Glucose
Metabolic HealthWhat It Measures
Blood glucose levels respond to meals, stress, exercise, and sleep. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) provide a real-time window into metabolic function and insulin sensitivity.
Why It Matters
Glucose spikes and variability predict energy levels, cognitive performance, and long-term metabolic risk. Post-meal glucose response varies enormously between individuals for the same foods — making CGM data highly personal.
How to Track
Via continuous glucose monitor (Libre, Dexterity, Stelo) for comprehensive data; fasting glucose labs quarterly if no CGM.
In Vitalis
Vitalis ingests CGM data and correlates glucose patterns with sleep, exercise timing, and meal composition for personalized metabolic insights.
VO2 Max
Cardiovascular FitnessWhat It Measures
VO2 max is the maximum rate at which your body can consume oxygen during exercise. It is the gold-standard measure of aerobic fitness and one of the strongest predictors of longevity.
Why It Matters
VO2 max declines with age but responds strongly to aerobic training. Tracking it over time shows whether your exercise program is improving cardiovascular fitness. Higher VO2 max strongly correlates with reduced all-cause mortality.
How to Track
Modern GPS sports watches (Garmin, Apple Watch) estimate VO2 max from running or cycling data. Lab testing for highest accuracy.
In Vitalis
Vitalis tracks VO2 max trends alongside training load data to identify the training approaches that most efficiently improve your cardiovascular fitness.
Body Temperature
Immune & Hormonal HealthWhat It Measures
Basal body temperature varies with menstrual cycle, illness, and circadian rhythm. Wearables with thermistors (Oura Gen3, Whoop 4.0) track skin temperature deviation from your personal baseline.
Why It Matters
Temperature elevation above your baseline frequently precedes symptomatic illness by 24 hours or more. For people with menstrual cycles, temperature is the most reliable indicator of ovulation and cycle phase.
How to Track
Via wearable overnight. Individual night values are noisy; look for multi-night trends.
In Vitalis
Vitalis incorporates temperature deviation into its illness early-warning algorithm alongside HRV and RHR.
Where to Start
If you are just beginning health tracking, start with what your existing wearable provides: HRV, sleep stages, and resting heart rate. These three biomarkers tracked consistently give you more health intelligence than most people accumulate in a lifetime of occasional lab tests.
Add glucose monitoring if metabolic health, weight, or energy fluctuations are a concern. Add VO2 max tracking once you have an exercise program you want to measure.