Body Status

What Body Status is#

Body Status has two parts that always agree with each other. The state is a word and a color: it is decided by the checks described below. The number on the dial is only the position inside that state's band: it tells you how far into "Steady" or "Strong" you are, never a different verdict. The word decides, the number adds detail.

Most of what it reads is measured while you sleep, so the state is a morning verdict about how your body came out of the night. It is not a live reading. Most of the twelve signals are scored against your own recent normal, not against a table for the population (how that works: how MyBodyAI works).

The five states and the dial#

There is a sixth answer, Insufficient data ("Nedostatek dat" in Czech), shown in gray with no number. It means we cannot place your day, not that your day is bad: see Not enough data.

The state word in the middle of the dial is "Alert", "Recovering", "Steady", "Strong" or "Peak Day". Along the arc the dial prints the shorter "STRONG" and "PEAK". The colors are the same on every screen, and the Czech words are "Varování", "Zotavování", "Stabilní", "Silný den" and "Špičkový den".

Where you see it#

• Overview: the first card, "Body Status", with the dial, the sentence that explains the state, and a fold called "What the state stands on" (Czech "Z čeho stav vychází").
• Health tab: the body figure is lit in the color of the state. Tapping it opens the same sheet as the Overview card.
• Sleep tab: a small bridge card shows the state next to sleep quality, sleep debt, Morning Energy and Recovery.
• Trends tab: "Body Status distribution" counts how many days of the period fell into each state.
• Day picker: past days show the state recalculated for that day (Premium).
• Outside the app: the morning notification, the Android widgets and the weekly report carry the same state (notifications, widgets and the watch).

The order of the checks#

The checks run in a fixed order and the first one that fits wins:

1. Alert
2. Recovering
3. Not enough data
4. Peak Day
5. Strong
6. Steady, the fallback

Alert and Recovering come before the data check on purpose. A single signal deep in the red is a real finding, and hiding it behind "not enough data" would be the more dangerous silence. Peak Day is tested before Strong because it is the stricter one.

The twelve signals it reads#

A signal your device does not measure is simply absent. Absent counts as "no evidence against a good day" for missing sensors (a scale-only account can still have a Strong day), but not for aged-out ones, see the gates for Strong and Peak.

Details of each signal live in their own entries: Recovery, HRV and the nervous system, stress, Body Alert, sleep, sleep debt, overtraining and load and Morning Energy.

1. Alert#

Alert is red, and the bar for it is deliberately high. It is built from four channels, each one a different way of noticing strain:

• Body Alert index above 55, or three or more different warning signals at once in the model behind Body Alert.
• Overtraining above 70.
• Critically low Morning Energy: a score under 25 that is also at or under 60% of your own usual morning. With no usual yet (the first seven mornings of a device) the absolute 25 stands alone, and an estimated Morning Energy with no history of its own cannot trigger it.
• A three-day pattern: across the last three days your resting heart rate went up day after day and your overnight HRV went down night after night. It has to be a real change, not noise: the total rise must be at least 2 bpm and at least twice your usual day-to-day change in resting rate, and the HRV drop at least 10% and at least your own month-long spread of nightly HRV.

One channel on one day is not an Alert. The day is Alert only when one of these is true:

• you told us you are unwell today (see below);
• two channels agree and each reads something the other does not (for example Body Alert, which reads resting pulse and sleep, and Overtraining, which reads training load). The sentence then ends "Two independent signals agree.";
• the same channel fired yesterday too, judged from yesterday's stored scores. The sentence ends "The same signal for the second day running.".

If only one channel fired, the state is Recovering, and the sentence says so: "One day so far; tomorrow will tell." The card also asks how you feel. The reason for the rule: an adult catches only two or three colds a year but has many ordinary bad days, so a warning on one signal on one day is far more often a false alarm than a real one, and a person who learns that stops reading the alarm on the day it is right.

Hard training sets two channels aside. After a hard session today or yesterday (a Training Effect of 4.0 or more, or high intensity for 20 minutes or more) a rising pulse, a falling HRV and an empty morning battery are the session, not strain, because the autonomic nervous system needs a day or two to settle after hard exercise (Stanley, Peake and Buchheit, Sports Medicine, 2013). The pattern channel and the Morning Energy channel are then ignored, and the day reads: "After a hard session your pulse and HRV are still settling, which takes up to 48 hours and is not a sign of illness." The Body Alert and Overtraining channels are not set aside.

Your own word counts most. The three buttons under the verdict, "How do you feel?", save a check-in: "Fine", "Tired" or "Ill" (Czech: "V pořádku", "Unaveně", "Nemocně"). "Ill" makes the day an Alert at once, whatever the numbers say, with the sentence "You say you are not feeling well today." The advice is: "Rest, fluids and 7h 30m of sleep tonight. If it does not ease within a few days or gets worse, see a doctor." The sleep time is tonight's goal from your own sleep need. A reported illness stays open for 3 days until you answer "Fine" (or save a check-in that says you are not ill): on the following days the card says "On 1 November you reported being ill and have not told us since that you are well again." and asks again. The energy pacing mode adds a fourth button, "Crash" (energy pacing).

The usual Alert advice is: "Prioritize rest, fluids, and 7h 30m of sleep tonight. If symptoms develop, consult a healthcare provider."

2. Recovering#

Recovering is orange and means "the body has not caught up yet". It is shown when any of these holds, and the first reason that applies leads the sentence:

• one Alert channel fired alone (see above), or a hard session explains the pulse or the battery;
• you reported an illness within the last 3 days and have not taken it back;
• last night was a very short night: under 55% of your sleep need or under 4 hours, or no restorative sleep by the overnight recharge (the night rule): "Only 3h 20m of sleep last night. One night this short already lowers performance and slows recovery.";
• Recovery below 50: "Your recovery is still catching up. Your body has not fully bounced back yet." (the wording rotates between three variants);
• Sleep Debt above 6 hours: "A large sleep debt, about 7h, is holding your recovery back." (two wordings);
• Morning Energy low for you: at least 1.5 of your own spreads under your usual (Morning Energy): "Low morning energy, 30/100 vs. your usual 69.";
• Overtraining at 40 or more together with Morning Energy below your usual: "Your recent training is weighing on you and your morning energy is low.";
• a danger reading that outranks every score: a night-average blood oxygen under 92% (with allowance for people whose own normal is lower), or a blood pressure of 180/110 or more that you entered. Its own sentence leads and says what to do, including seeing a doctor. These readings are never celebrated by a Strong or Peak Day beside them.

During the first seven mornings of a device with Body Battery we do not yet know your usual. A low Morning Energy then reads: "Morning energy is low today, 22/100. We are still learning your usual (morning 3 of 7), so we cannot yet say whether that is low for you." It is the only reason for the day, and the morning notification treats it as information, not a warning.

The advice on a Recovering day rotates between three wordings, for example "An easier day: light stretching, good food and 7h 30m of sleep tonight." In the energy pacing mode the wordings that mention movement are left out.

3. Not enough data#

Two things must both be true before Strong, Steady or Peak can be shown:

• At least 5 of the 12 signals have a current value (Overtraining counts as present in a week without training, because "nothing to flag" is an answer);
• at least one night was recorded in the last 7 days (the night rule).

Otherwise the state is "Insufficient data", gray, with no number, and the sentence says why. The reason depends on what we see in your account:

The "never a night" sentence needs ten days of history in the account first, so a new account is not told it "never" recorded a night. For Garmin accounts the advice also names the three ways a night can arrive: the direct Garmin link on the Devices page, the MyBodyAI phone app reading Health Connect, or an uploaded Garmin export (devices, troubleshooting).

The Health tab prints the tally as "2 of the 5 signals needed". When the sentence already counts nights or days, the tally is left out, so two different counters never sit side by side.

4. Peak Day#

Peak Day is blue. All of these must hold:

• Recovery above 75;
• Stress Load under 35 (when your device measures stress at all; a device with no stress index is not held back for it);
• Sleep Debt measured and under 1 hour;
• Body Alert under 35 and Overtraining under 40;
• the "no critical signal" floor below;
• at least 2 of these 5 are present: Stress Load, Body Alert, Overtraining, Sleep Debt, Sleep Quality;
• your HRV week is not below its band. When an overnight HRV from today or yesterday is in and your HRV band exists, the seven-night HRV average must be inside or above the band (the band needs readings spanning 28 days). Below the band vetoes Peak Day. With no band yet, no recent HRV night, or a device with no HRV, the other conditions alone decide;
• none of the gates is closed.

The sentence lists exactly what was true, for example "Your body is at full strength today: recovery high, stress low, almost no sleep debt and the week's overnight HRV in its usual range." A device without stress never gets the words "stress low". The advice is hedged: "If you feel well and hard training is normal for you, today is a good day to push harder."

The floor (used by Peak Day and Strong): every one of Recovery, Immunity, Body Clock, Nervous System, Sleep Quality, Breathing and Cardiac Fitness that you have must be 35 or more, and Stress Load under 65, Body Alert under 45, Overtraining under 40, Sleep Debt under 3 hours. A single signal on the floor closes both states.

5. Strong#

Strong is green. It needs the floor, the gates, and one of two ways in:

• Absolute: Recovery above 65, Immunity above 60, Stress Load under 55, Body Alert under 35, Overtraining under 40, Sleep Debt under 3 hours, Sleep Quality above 55 (each of the last five only if you have it), and at least 2 of those five present;
• Relative: at least 3 of the 7 floor signals are more than 5 points above their own average of the last 7 days (the average of your stored daily scores for that signal). The absolute route also serves accounts that have too little history for their own average.

The sentence is one of: "Several signals are above your usual today. Strongest: recovery." (relative route, naming the signal with the highest score), "Recovery and immunity are in good shape and nothing is off." (absolute). The advice is "Your body is ready. If you feel well, it is a good day for a harder session."

6. Steady#

Steady is yellow-green and is the fallback: nothing alarming, but not every condition for Strong holds. It does not mean "average" and it does not mean "bad". A good Steady day is the normal case.

When something is worth watching, the sentence lists it, for example "Things to watch today: high stress, low freshness after training, a sleep debt of about 3h 30m." The list can contain:

• "a short night (5h 30m)";
• "high stress" (Stress Load 65 or more);
• "lower resilience" (Body Alert 45 or more);
• "low freshness after training" (Overtraining 40 or more);
• "a sleep debt of about ..." (3 hours or more);
• "low morning energy (...)" when it is under your usual;
• "low recovery (31)", "low immunity (30)", "low sleep quality (...)" and so on, for any of the seven floor signals under 35.

The advice is chosen from what was named: sleep, winding down, a lighter day or an easier training day, so a Polar account with no stress signal is never told to work on stress. If the day is plain and your signals are fine, one of four wordings of "keep your routine" is shown. If a flag that is not a danger line applies (a severe apnea index over your month of nights, or a week of resting rates over 100), the day is capped at Steady and that flag leads the sentence.

Two Steady variants say what is missing instead of calling the day clean:

• Aged signals: "A steady day on the signals we have. Recovery was last measured on 28 October, so treat this as partial." (with a link to sync, or to wear the device to bed, or to upload a Garmin export, whichever fits);
• Missing core signals: "The signals we have point to a calm day. Without recovery and stress, though, it is not the whole picture." The three are Recovery, Immunity and Stress Load.

If all three core signals are withheld at the same time (stale or not measured), the card shows no verdict at all, as in "Not enough data".

The gates for Strong and Peak#

Strong and Peak look only for good news, so three things close them even when every number is good:

1. An aged-out signal. If any of the eleven index signals (all but Morning Energy) is stale, or only available as an assessment of the past week, the verdict cannot say "everything is fine". The state stays Steady and says which signals were last measured when.
2. A short night. A recorded night under 90% of your sleep need (see short night).
3. A red flag. A danger reading (oxygen, blood pressure) puts the day at Recovering at best; a severe apnea index or a week of resting rates over 100 caps the day at Steady.

State and coach#

Body Status is the hero, the coach card "Today's move" turns it into one verb. Each state maps to a ceiling:

The coach takes the lowest of the state, the readiness zone (readiness), last night, yesterday's training, the weekly load and your HRV band. When the verb ends lower than the state suggests, the Body Status advice is replaced so the screen does not contradict itself, for example "Your signals look good, but one thing holds today back: a hard session yesterday. Keep today light." More in the daily coach.

The night rule#

Body Status stands on overnight signals. A wrist worn only during the day can produce stress, steps and a heart rate, but it cannot produce HRV, sleep or a resting rate, and those carry the verdict. So Steady, Strong and Peak need a night inside the last 7 days. Alert and Recovering do not (a real warning is never hidden).

What counts as a night#

• A sleep record: a sleep length, a sleep score or a deep-sleep value, dated inside the last 7 days ending on the scored day; or an overnight HRV row in the same window.
• A published Sleep Quality or Sleep Debt number counts too, because neither can be computed without a sleep record.
• A resting heart rate alone is not a night: some Garmin connections file a resting rate for a wrist that never went to bed.

If you skip the band a night or two, you keep your verdict. Seven days is wide enough for that and narrow enough that a wrist worn only by day cannot reach one.

A short night#

The gate also reads last night directly, because one short night does not reliably show in next morning's HRV or pulse. The night is compared with your sleep need (as the Sleep tab shows it, 7h 30m when none is known, and never counted below 6h 40m for this purpose):

• below 90% of the need is a short night: Strong and Peak close, and Steady lists "a short night (5h 30m)";
• below 55% of the need, or below 4 hours, whichever limit is higher, is a very short night: the day becomes Recovering with the sentence "Only 3h 20m of sleep last night. ...".

A night under 6 hours is therefore always short. When a night is missing but the watch was worn, a Garmin overnight recharge below 40% of your own usual recharge counts as a very short night ("No restorative sleep last night, as your overnight recharge shows."). With no measured evidence either way we do not penalise: a missing night is flagged, not punished.

The number on the dial#

The dial maps your position into the band of the state. The four inputs, their weights and the windows of the state you are in:

• Recovery, 40%
• Calm (100 minus Stress Load), 25%
• Sleep Quality, 20%
• Immunity, 15%

Each is placed between 0 and 1 inside the window that belongs to the state, and the weighted mean moves the needle inside the band:

• Alert: Recovery 15 to 45, Calm 20 to 50, Immunity 20 to 45, Sleep Quality 25 to 50
• Recovering: Recovery 30 to 55, Calm 30 to 55, Immunity 35 to 55, Sleep Quality 40 to 60
• Steady: Recovery 45 to 75, Calm 35 to 70, Immunity 45 to 70, Sleep Quality 50 to 75
• Strong: Recovery 60 to 85, Calm 55 to 85, Immunity 55 to 80, Sleep Quality 55 to 85
• Peak Day: Recovery 75 to 95, Calm 70 to 95, Immunity 65 to 90, Sleep Quality 65 to 90

Dial = start of the band + weighted mean × width of the band, rounded to a whole number.

Minimum weight. The needle is drawn only when the inputs we have carry at least 40% of the weights, which is exactly Recovery alone. Recovery and Immunity (55%) is enough; Sleep Quality and Immunity (35%) is not. When the needle is withheld the state still stands and a line explains: "No number on the dial today: no current recovery and stress. The state comes from your other signals." (an aged-out reading) or "... recovery and stress not measured." (a sensor your device does not have). With Recovery 60 and Immunity 55 alone the dial in the example above would read 57.

The band around the number. Once there are at least 7 past days, the dial shows "Your usual 52 to 66": the middle half (25th to 75th percentile) of your last 30 stored values, and a small ring for "yesterday 61" (or "yesterday the same"). A trend chip says "from Recovering" when yesterday's state was a different one.

What the card shows around the state#

• The sentence. The reason, in the wording of the state. Names of signals in it are tinted in their own condition color. On Premium the first line can be a short story of the day (today only) built from the same numbers.
• Six tiles under "What the state stands on": Recovery, Immunity, Calm, Morning energy, Resilience and Sleep quality. Each is a five-rung ladder and a word: "Optimal" (81 and up), "Good" (61 to 80), "Average" (41 to 60) or "Low" (40 and below), always in the positive direction, so a low Body Alert shows as high Resilience. A signal we cannot show says why: "No recent data", "Your device does not measure this" or "Collecting data (2 of 3 days)", and an aged reading carries its date.
• Lifting and Holding. Up to three chips compare each signal with your own 7-day average (30 days if there is no 7-day figure): "Lifting: 2 · Holding: 1". A move that rounds to zero is not shown.
• "Held back most by ..." names the single signal pulling the state down most.
• A next step. "Next step: Higher recovery moves you to Strong (estimate)" appears for Steady and Strong only when we tested it: we re-run the real checks with that one signal set to a very good value and only name it if the state would actually change. For Alert and Recovering the line "What could lower the state" lists up to two signals currently holding the state down; for Peak Day "What keeps you here" lists the closest margins (recovery, stress, sleep debt).
• A "Provisional" line while a night or a Garmin export has not arrived (below).
• "For you today": the day's targeted tips (the first ones are printed here; the rest go on the Actions card).
• "Data quality": only when under 50% of the input signals of the past week are present. It counts input signals, not accuracy.
• The check-in question, every day until you answer, then "Edit today's check-in".

When it updates#

• Morning. The state is set when the night reaches us. Garmin Connect writes the night when the watch next syncs with the phone, phones push when Android lets them run, an export arrives when you upload it, so "morning" can be late.
• During the day. The state normally does not move with the clock. It can move when new data arrive (a delayed night, a new sync of HRV or stress), when you save a check-in, or when a hard session recorded today sets the pattern and battery channels aside. The only thing that changes by the minute is the small chip under the dial (Premium), for example "Now: high energy, rising to ~10:00", which reads the day's energy curve (Morning Energy and the energy map).
• How fresh the page is. The result is stored and reused for up to 5 minutes. A sync, a check-in or a profile change refreshes it sooner. "Fetch new data" on the Health tab pulls from your device (sync).
• Past days. The day picker recalculates the chosen day from the data we hold for it, as the morning of that day would have read it. When data arrive late or we change how a number is calculated, an old day can therefore differ a little from what you saw back then (how MyBodyAI works).

A night that has not arrived yet#

Data reaches us late as a matter of routine. If the night of the day being lived (or the day before) is missing whole, we score that day with your usual night: the median of each night value over the last 7 days, but only for values delivered on at least 4 of those 7 days and with the newest of them on the last settled day. A device that really stopped is not hidden this way. Running totals of the day (Body Battery charged and drained, steps) are never filled in.

The card then says: "Provisional: the data of the night to 3/11 has not arrived yet, so we assume your usual night for now. The verdict updates once it does." and the day is scored again from the real night when it arrives. For a Garmin account that uploads exports by hand, the signals that only the next export brings (HRV, stress, breathing, blood oxygen, the sleep score) are filled the same way for up to 7 days: "Provisional: HRV from your Garmin arrives with your next export, so we assume your usual values for now."

Free and Premium#

Since 1 November 2026 the free plan shows today's Body Status: the dial, the state word, the sentence, the red flags, the check-in question and the data-quality chip, plus the safety alerts. Everything underneath ("What the state stands on" with the tiles and chips, the next step, the story of the day, the "For you today" tips, the energy line, past days, the Health, Sleep, Trends and Performance tabs) is Premium. Premium includes the 7-day trial. Your data keeps arriving and nothing is lost (plans).

Energy pacing mode#

The energy pacing mode (for people with ME/CFS, long covid or POTS) does not change the calculation. It changes the words: the advice never mentions walks, training or movement, Stress Load is called "body load", and the check-in has a "Crash" button. See energy pacing.

What you can do#

• Wear the device to bed and let it sync in the morning. Sleep, resting rate and HRV are what the verdict stands on.
• Answer the check-in. "Ill" and "Tired" are real inputs, and they are the one signal the sensors cannot give.
• Do not chase Peak Day. It is a description of an unusually good morning, not a target.
• Read the sentence before the color: the reason and the advice are written for the state.
• Read the week, not the day. One Recovering day after a race is the cost of the race. A week that never leaves Steady is a sleep or stress question.
• If the card asks for a sync, tap "Read the phone now" (phone-fed accounts) or "Fetch new data" on the Health tab.

MyBodyAI is a wellness app, not a medical device. Body Status describes signals from your device, it does not diagnose. If you feel unwell, see a doctor.

Frequently asked questions#

Why does my Body Status say Steady when I feel great?#

Because Strong needs more than a good feeling. Typical reasons: last night was under 90% of your sleep need (a "short night"), one of the signals is old (the card names it and the date), Recovery is 65 or lower, Immunity is 60 or lower, Sleep Debt is 3 hours or more, or a Body Alert or Overtraining score is above its Strong limit. Open "What the state stands on" and look at the six tiles, the one in the lowest band is usually the reason.

Why does it say Recovering when I feel fine?#

Either one signal showed strain on one day ("One day so far; tomorrow will tell."), a hard session explains your pulse, Recovery is below 50, Sleep Debt is above 6 hours, last night was very short, or your Morning Energy is far under your own usual. If it is a single-day signal, tomorrow decides. Tapping "Fine" in the check-in does not change the numbers, but it does close a reported illness.

Why did it say Alert for one day and then drop back?#

Alert needs agreement: two independent signals, a signal repeated for the second day, or your own report of being unwell. A day on which one of these held and a next day on which none does is normal. After a hard session the pulse-and-HRV pattern and the battery channel are set aside for up to two days, which can also lift a day out of Alert.

Why is there no number on the dial?#

Because the signals that place the needle (Recovery 40%, Calm 25%, Sleep Quality 20%, Immunity 15%) carry less than 40% of the weights that day. The state is still real, it comes from the other signals. The line under the verdict names what is missing, and whether it is old or never measured by your device.

Why does the state change after a sync?#

Because the night reached us late. Before it arrived we scored the day with your usual night and marked it "Provisional". When the real night is in, the state is scored again and may move. That is why we mark the first version.

Why does it say "Not enough data" when my watch syncs every day?#

The watch may sync steps and stress but no night. Body Status needs a night inside the last 7 days and at least 5 of the 12 signals. If the sentence says "Your device is syncing, but it has not recorded a night recently", wear the device to bed and charge it during the day. For Garmin without a night, the card names the three ways in. See devices.

Does Body Status diagnose illness?#

No. It describes how far a group of measured signals sits from your own normal and how long that has lasted. Signs of strain often come with an infection, but also with a hard week, a poor night or stress. The advice on an Alert day is rest, fluids and sleep, and "if symptoms develop, consult a healthcare provider".

Why does the coach say EASY when Body Status is Strong?#

The coach takes the lowest of several verdicts: yesterday's hard session, a jump in weekly load, a week of HRV under your band, a short night, or a low readiness zone. The Strong state is true, the cause that holds the day back is named after "one thing holds today back". See the daily coach.

Can I change the limits?#

No. There is no setting for the thresholds. Changing a threshold changes the calculation for every day, so we change them only in releases, and the entries here are checked against the code each time.