Why I deleted my health apps (and started feeling healthier)

How your Smart Watch Is Making You Dumber

“Time to breathe,” it announced.
I looked down and thought: I’ve been breathing for 44 years. Pretty sure I’ve got this handled.

But here’s the weird part - I almost did it anyway.
Three deep breaths because a computer told me to.

That’s when it hit me: I’ve been training my tech, and it’s been training me right back.

Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash

The Automation Trap: When your devices start training you

I build AI solutions for a living. Automate workflows. Optimize performance. Strip inefficiencies like dead skin. I’m good at it.

Somewhere along the way, I started applying that same logic to myself.

Sleep optimization. HRV tracking. Step counting. Meditation streaks. Counting calories.
I stopped living in my body and started managing it.

Here’s what I’ve learned after years in automation:
The more you automate, the less you understand.

Companies outsource their accounting and lose sight of their finances.
I outsourced my health to an app—and forgot how I actually feel.

The Swiss Perspective on “Efficiency”

I grew up in Switzerland.
There, efficiency isn’t about more data—it’s about better decisions with less noise.

A Swiss watch doesn’t buzz or glow or coach your REM cycles. It just tells time—beautifully—for decades.

Meanwhile, we’ve convinced ourselves that more metrics = more progress.
I know engineers who check their readiness scores before deciding whether to have sex.
Let that sink in.

What Nobody Tells You About Data

I work with data every day. And here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Most health data is noise wearing a lab coat.

Your sleep score fluctuates based on a tangled mess of variables your app doesn’t track: room temp, stress, dinner, hormones, caffeine, your partner’s mood, full moon energy—take your pick.

So when your watch tells you, “Poor sleep,” what are you supposed to do with that?
Worry about it? Great—now you’ll sleep worse tomorrow.

Even good apps like Sleep Cycle ask for data they can’t fully interpret. The gaps mislead more than they guide.

The Only Metric That Matters

After years of building smart systems, I’ve found one metric that actually predicts growth:

Your comfort with discomfort.

Not your heart rate.
Not your meditation streak.
Not your 10,000 steps.

Are you willing to do things that feel awkward, uncertain, or a little scary?

That’s what growth feels like.
And no device can measure it—but you can.

The 5-Second Growth Test

Want to know if you’re growing? Ask yourself:
“What did I do this week that I wouldn’t have done last month?”

• Had a hard conversation? → Growth.

• Tried something new? → Growth.

• Set a boundary? → Growth.

• Closed all your rings? → Maintenance in disguise.

My 30-Day De-Optimization Experiment

I turned off all health notifications for 30 days.
No sleep scores. No activity rings. No “Time to breathe.”

Just… lived. Like humans did for thousands of years before we let machines tell us how we’re doing.

Week 1 was weird. I kept reaching for numbers that weren’t there.
By week 3? Something shifted.

I started trusting my body again.

Tired? Slept.
Energetic? Moved.
Stressed? Dealt with it—no tracking required.

Results? Better sleep. More energy. Less anxiety.
Turns out, your body’s not broken. It just needs you to listen.

The Automation Engineer’s Paradox

The irony?
The more I automate other people’s systems, the less I want to automate my own life.

Real efficiency isn’t about optimizing everything—it’s about optimizing the right things and ignoring the rest.

Your phone knows where you are. It has no clue where you’re going.
Your watch can read your heart rate. It can’t read your courage.

Your Challenge

Pick one health metric you obsess over.
Turn it off for two weeks. No exceptions.

Replace it with this question:
“How do I feel right now?”

Not: What does the app say?
Not: What’s my score?

Just you, checking in with you.

Because the goal isn’t perfect metrics.
It’s a healthy relationship with uncertainty.

And uncertainty—my friend—is where the interesting stuff happens.