Tech Is Making It Possible to Track Metabolism in Real-Time Metabolism-measuring wellness tracker Lumen invites you to hack your health.
By StackCommerce Edited by Jason Fell
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The hardest part of any diet or fitness plan is mental. Whether you're working really hard and not seeing results or you don't know how to troubleshoot when your progress halts, a roadblock can seriously decrease your morale and motivation. Frustration often leads to quitting, and quitting, of course, gets you nowhere.
You could hire an expensive coach or you could hack your health with Lumen.
Lumen is a metabolism-measuring tracker that can give you real-time feedback about how your metabolism is working and how your nutrition is affecting your body. The only metabolic measurement device available for personal use, Lumen offers the kind of unique insight that may be missing from previously faltering fitness routines.
How does it work?
The primary focus of the Lumen device is to let you know what exactly your body is burning for fuel. Are you running on the carbs from that donut at breakfast, or are you actually burning stored fat? These kinds of insights can help you plan your nutrition, improve your workouts, and train your metabolism to be more flexible.
How does Lumen know what you're burning? By measuring the levels of carbon dioxide in your breath. The Lumen device has a small mouthpiece that you blow into. High levels of CO2 indicate burning carbs, while lower levels mean your body has turned to burning fat.
Lumen puts the power in users' hands to know exactly how their metabolism is functioning, the company says. Peer reviews show similar accuracy to metabolic cart measurements. With a single breath into the device, scores are transmitted to the mobile app so users can track their metabolism. In-app recommendations for nutrition help to reinforce smart metabolic choices.
A focus on health.
The minds behind Lumen believe that current wearables and trackers are missing a key component: a focus on preventative measures. It should be possible to see the early warning signs of illnesses like diabetes or heart disease. Instead, most people use their trackers to focus solely on fitness and weight loss, and data sets are often languishing in different apps.
Lumen hopes to give them a bigger picture of their health with a forward-thinking policy on health data assessment. Co-founder and CEO Daniel Tal Mor notes, "Public health only treats you once you are diagnosed.... A whole chunk of patients meanwhile are about to become seriously ill." But collecting health data with Lumen could potentially spot these illnesses before they take hold, the company says.
In general, the industry is trending in a more connected direction that will benefit users of health tech. As Mor explains, "Eventually, everything about our health and fitness will be hyper-connected. We have data in silos or compartments—performance and fitness data is measured by Garmin or specific activity trackers. Our sleep data is measured with another sensor but it's not only about data sources. It's also about experiences—you need to know what to do and how to act according to all the data."
Mor worked with co-founders and doctors of physiology Merav Mor and Michal Mor. Their 2018 launch on Indiegogo resulted in 10,000 sales to wellness enthusiasts looking to get the best insights about their health. Since the launch, Lumen has measured over 1,000,000 breaths.
Lumen has also integrated with Garmin so that users can see their metabolism measurements from their Garmin watch. Users that measure their metabolism and own a wearable are more likely to make sustainable changes in their health and fitness according to research experts at Lumen.
"We see that Garmin users who measure their metabolism with Lumen become smarter athletes because they get metabolic feedback in real-time on their wrist after workouts. They move more, eat healthier and get workouts in more consistently," says Barak Alon, head of data at Lumen.
Users who are ready to take their health and fitness to the next level will love the unique data offered by Lumen. Lumen's easy use and focus on holistic health make it the type of wellness tracker that's poised to change the health data game, and health hackers should eagerly follow its work.
