Using wearable technology to understand the menstrual cycle: Conversation with Dr. Sarah Johnson, Part I

 Wearables are everywhere, and they're tracking all manner of physiological signals continuously, including our heart rate, temperature, respiration rate, and other features while we go about our daily lives. Do these devices actually measure what they say they measure? Are they reliable?And if they are, can this information be linked to the menstrual cycle to better understand normal and abnormal cycles and symptoms?Today, I talk with a researcher trying to wring meaning out of the data generated by these wearables to better understand women's health with specific interest in how changes in things like temperature, heart rate variability, respiration rate may offer clues about what's happening in our menstrual cycle, both when we take various forms of contraception and when we don't.In this episode we talk about:Decoding Menstrual Health Across the Lifespan: A Scoping Review of Digital Health Tools (2026): https://www.nature.com/articles/s44294-026-00146-7If you want more details about the influence of copper IUDs on the tissue of the uterine lining, see: Effects of Copper Containing Intrauterine Devices on the Endometrium (2021): https://mednexus.org/doi/10.4103/2096-2924.309791