I Caved and Bought a Smartwatch, and It Fixed My Focus

Key points

Heart rate variability (HRV) might be the most overlooked biomarker for cognitive performance.

Your brain has its own daily rhythm, and most people schedule against it.

Aligning tasks with HRV peaks can save hours, reduce overwhelm, and reignite momentum.

I’ve always been secretly proud of the Nixon watch I bought at Hot Topic in 2005. It tells time. That’s it. Not even digital. It’s got a real clock face. It was a secret badge of honour that I resisted the allure of a smartwatch.

I’d inwardly roll my eyes every time I was having a conversation with someone, and they’d look down at their wrist every 30 seconds because they got an alert…

Then, last November, I was at a neuropsychology conference, and two of the first three presenters talked about this thing called Heart Rat