ARE YOU AS OPTIMIZED AS YOU THINK?

All the sensors and trackers we use might be completely ignoring a few critical health metrics—and deficiencies. What are you missing?

- JOSHUA DAVID STEIN

MY SMARTWATCH constantly dings with cheerful congratulations for steps taken, heart rate achieved, days rested to speed up my recovery. My shelves, meanwhile, groan with helpful books, my phone with apps, and my counter with supplements that promise to remedy any deficiency that might inhibit my peak human performance. So why, if my life is so optimized, do I feel so...meh?

Maybe optimization—a trend that rose concurrently with our ability to track our body’s data—isn’t so optimal. We tend to overvalue what we can measure and undervalue the immeasurable. Yet much of what makes life meaningful and keeps us mentally healthy is not so easily captured in metrics. (See: There’s no tracking ring for contentment.) We worked with top mental wellness experts to ID what all our meters might be missing and learn how to, ugh, optimize it.

►SILENCE DEFICIENCY

It’s not you. The world has gotten louder. Emergency vehicle sirens are 30 percent louder than they were in 1912. Today, roughly 50 percent of the population is exposed to noise levels that could be dangerous to their health; excess noise can lead to hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairment and can just plain put you on edge.