The daily journal is one of Whoop’s most loved (and sometimes hated) features. The only reason it becomes a part of a sour relationship between athlete and Whoop is that it holds you accountable for your decisions. And at times, depending on how many areas you have incorporated, it becomes tedious.
Though Whoop has made some adjustments, the process goes by much faster. Whoop Journal truly has the power to make a big performance enhancement toward your daily goals. The insights are incredible. But only if you are consistent.
Let’s talk about what it is and why you should use it.
What is the Whoop Daily Journal?
Every morning when you wake up, you will get a prompt asking you to answer questions from the day before. This is called the Whoop Daily Journal. It started with a few basic questions about whether you slept in the same bed as usual and a few along the same lines. Now you can preselect more than 40 questions about your behavior.
The more consistent you are with the questions, the more reward you will get. Whoop Daily Journal works with your weekly and, more importantly, your Monthly Performance Assessment. After taking some time to evaluate your behaviors and use the metrics to evaluate what affects your recovery poorly and what benefits it.
Daily Journal categories
Let’s break down the overall categories, consisting of several questions to toggle yes or no. Some questions, like medication consumption, food, sleep, etc., may ask you to quantify. You can also select levels of emotion from Strong to Never.
Circadian Health
Your body naturally keeps a 24-hour clock based on several factors. Daylight is undoubtedly one of them. You may be able to tell your body reacts differently in the winter if you eat meals in the dark.
Lifestyle
The choices one makes in their life has an incredible impact on their body. Lifestyle choices have to do with things such as air travel, your consumption of alcohol, and how hydrated you are, among many more. Even things like sexual activities are considered in lifestyle.
Medication
Medication plays a more obvious role in our bodies. Something that Whoop has monitored closely is COVID vaccines and boosters and the effect that follows.
Mental Health
This has been an area that Whoop has continually worked to incorporate into their journal. Aside from the questions in the journal, you can also take a survey every few months to track how you are doing. This is great to bring to therapy or your doctor as well.
Nutrition
Keeping track of what you put into your body, good and bad, is essential. Sugars, fats, protein, and more are all options to log. This requires you to pay close attention to your diet to get good results.
Recovery
If it is meant to help your recovery, it will likely be found in the recovery section of the journal. Ice baths, acupuncture, and even a good nap. This section has plenty of options to look at.
Reproductive Health
Women can rejoice because, finally, someone acknowledges how a woman’s body is easily affected during their menstrual cycles. From pregnancy to tracking a menstrual cycle, there is much to consider here. Even trying to conceive can stress the body, which is why you will find it there.
Sleep
This is great because it can be compared directly with your sleep measurements. Where you slept and what you did while in need (hello electronics) before sleeping makes an impact. And so does your favorite sleep stories by Headspace.
Status
Status has to do with your current situation. Are you a caregiver or nursing? Are you single or married? Many questions about status may make a long-term impact rather than a short-term one.
Supplements
Finally, what vitamins are you taking, and how are they helping you? Monitoring your vitamin levels is the perfect way to end the task. Don’t forget melatonin and CBD.
Click Here for the full list of journal options.
What are the benefits of using Whoop Daily Journal?
So what happens when you consistently log these details? The longer and more consistently you answer these questions, the better your monthly performance assessments can tell you how these decisions impact your life.
After filling out the journal for some time, you will notice that a specific behavior repeated over 30 days will have a plus or minus percent effect on your recovery. For instance, stretching may have a 5% increase in your recovery. Specific medications may decrease your recovery. Sometimes there is a suggestion like increased body temperature, which may be correlated with the behavior.
Daily Journal Drawbacks?
You won’t get super specific results if you aren’t incredibly consistent. However, even if you are generally consistent with your answers, you can get some information on behaviors that you should adjust. This can also be shared with other platforms with Whoop’s new features to partner with third-party developers.
Should you do it?
Is the Whoop Daily Journal worth doing every day? For athletes that are super serious about their sport, you can consider it to be a part of your job. Whoop has made it easy to go through the questions as it saves your answer from the previous day. And then you can simply toggle changes based on the differences.
You also don’t need to have every question in your journal. Suppose you aren’t planning on nursing anytime soon. You can get rid of the question entirely. The journal is adaptable, which means you can adjust it as your life changes.
It’s perfect for those who want to get more insight. And if you don’t, you don’t have to!
Read Next: How to get the most out of Whoop Live Workout mode.
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Brittany Collens is one of our top sports writers. She is also a professional tennis player which helps her authority on subjects such as health and fitness.
She has a degree in journalism and has previously written for well-established sports magazines in Massachusetts.
Brittany lives in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States.