A new survey of more than 2,000 Americans found that 58% feel overwhelmed by health optimization trends, even as 64% track at least one health metric every day.
Experts say constantly monitoring sleep, steps, weight, and other metrics can contribute to "optimization anxiety," and in some cases, negatively affect mental health and sleep quality.
Rather than chasing perfect scores, wellness experts recommend focusing on sustainable habits and healthy routines that support overall well-being without constant tracking.
Fitness watches, sleep apps, and other health tracking tools have made it easier than ever to keep tabs on our daily habits. But while many people turn to these devices to improve their well-being, new research suggests that constantly measuring every step, hour of sleep, or wellness goal may come with an unexpected downside.
A survey from Naturepedic found that many Americans experience what researchers call "optimization anxiety" — the pressure to continually improve health metrics — raising questions about whether all that tracking is helping people feel healthier or simply adding another source of stress.
ConsumerAffairs spoke with Arin Schultz, Chief Growth Officer at Naturepedic, to learn more about the findings and how consumers can be mindful of their health without getting overwhelmed.
Many Americans are tracking their health — and feeling the pressure
The findings are based on a survey of 2,009 U.S. adults conducted by North Star Inbound on behalf of Naturepedic. Researchers asked participants which aspects of their health they track, how often they monitor them, and whether those habits affect their mental and physical well-being. They also created an "optimization anxiety" score by weighing the number of health metrics people track alongside reported feelings of stress and anxiety related to that tracking.
Here are some of the key findings from the survey:
64% of Americans track at least one health metric every day
Weight (82%), physical activity (72%), water intake (64%), sleep duration (60%), and sleep quality (47%) are among the most commonly monitored measures.
58% of respondents said they feel overwhelmed by the amount of health advice and optimization trends they encounter.
More than one-third said they have stopped using a health tracker or app because it negatively affected their mental health.
Optimization anxiety
Schultz explained that many consumers are feeling optimization anxiety because it’s nearly impossible to be separated from your health metrics.
“Health data lives on your wrist, your phone, your ring, updating constantly,” Schultz said. “A decade ago, tracking meant a doctor’s visit or stepping on a scale. Now it’s a daily habit, with 64% of Americans checking at least one health metric every day.
“At that frequency, it stops feeling like information and starts feeling like a scorecard you’re being judged on. People are more informed, but also more anxious – 58% of people say they feel overwhelmed by health content.”
Orthosomnia
The survey found that sleep is one of the most common metrics that consumers measure. However, doing so can also increase the risk of a phenomenon known as orthosomnia.
Schultz explained that this occurs when “people get fixated on hitting a ‘good’ sleep score. “That pressure and anxiety disrupts the very sleep they’re trying to optimize,” he said.
“Sleep is already one of the most tracked areas of health (both duration and quality rank in the top five metrics nationally), along with things like calories or heart rate. So it can easily become a vicious cycle, where caring so much about getting a ‘good’ sleep score keeps you up at night, tanking your sleep score, which makes you worry even more, and so on.”
The negative impact on mental health
Schultz explained there are three primary ways that tracking health metrics can negatively impact consumers’ health:
First, there’s information overload. 58% of people already feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of advice out there, as mentioned.
Second, tracking turns something passive, like sleep, into something you feel evaluated on. That shift changes the experience entirely.
Third, it can surface information people weren’t looking for or didn’t want. Our city-level data actually found that in certain markets, residents were notably more likely to say tracking revealed something about their health they wish they hadn't known.
“Put together, you get a pattern where more than one in three Americans eventually just stopped tracking a metric altogether because it made them feel worse, not better,” Schultz said.
Setting healthy boundaries
If you worry you might have an unhealthy relationship with your health tracker, there are ways to develop a healthier balance. Schultz recommends moving your attention away from the things you can measure, to the things you can control directly.
“Instead of checking a sleep score first thing in the morning, ask whether your room is dark, cool, and free of screens before bed,” he said. “Instead of chasing a specific number, build consistent habits like a steady bedtime, a wind-down routine, and a sleep environment made without synthetic materials that can affect air quality overnight. None of that requires a login or a dashboard.”
Some more of his best tips:
Start with when you check your data. Avoid right before bed and right when you wake up; that's when a score can set the emotional tone for your whole day (or sabotage your night before it begins).
Try going without tracking for a week and pay attention to how you feel, not just what a number says. Go back to focusing on the basics a wearable can’t measure, like sleep hygiene, a clean sleep environment, or reducing your screen time.
Tracking can be useful, but it should stay a tool. The moment it becomes the goal, it stops being helpful.
“The bigger takeaway is that there’s a fine line between awareness and self-surveillance,” Schultz said. “A lot of people don’t realize how quickly they’ve crossed it.
“At the same time, some people aren’t affected at all! Health tracking has been invaluable to many people. If it’s working well for you and you’re not feeling anxious, that’s great, too.”