Introducing the Spike Recovery Score: Unified Insights Through One API

Users expect not only to see sleep insights but also recovery insights, as it is becoming a core expectation for health, wellness, and fitness apps. However, developers face the issue that every wearable device reports recovery differently.

Oura reports "Readiness" using temperature trends and heart rate variability (HRV), Whoop calculates "Recovery" based on HRV and strain balance, and Garmin's Body Battery uses proprietary stress and activity algorithms. Meanwhile, the majority of other wearables track all the relevant metrics, but provide no readiness score at all. 

Spike Health Insights solves this with four ready-to-use wellness scores: Recovery, Sleep, Stress, and Activity, which work consistently across all devices. This empowers you to improve the value proposition for your users without spending resources on it.

Main Recovery metrics

Wearable devices cannot directly measure recovery as a single biomarker, but they can detect multiple physiological indicators of the body's recovery state. 

The most relevant metrics are:

• Sleep quality and architecture. Sleep duration, efficiency, and time spent in deep and REM stages directly impact physical and cognitive recovery
• HRV: Higher HRV indicates better recovery and is a reliable biomarker.
• Resting heart rate (RHR): An elevated RHR can indicate higher stress and incomplete recovery or accumulated fatigue.
• Body temperature: Body temperature drops during sleep, and fluctuations can have an influence on sleep quality. 
• Activity load: Recent training volume and intensity impact recovery needs. High training loads require proportionally longer recovery periods to prevent overtraining and optimize performance adaptations.

Spike processes these and more raw metrics through proprietary algorithms, converting them into a single Recovery Score (0-100). The higher the score, the better the recovery. We apply the same scoring logic across all supported wearables, so your users get consistent insights regardless of their device.

How can health apps leverage a unified Recovery Score?

Introducing a unified Recovery Score can provide significant product leverage: optimize training programs, measure the impact of lifestyle changes and habits, correlate recovery with the menstrual cycle, or track the impact of nutrition on recovery. 

Fitness & Coaching Apps

Transform static workout plans into personalized training. Instead of a rigid weekly program, you can give your users daily guidance on whether to push hard, maintain moderate intensity, or prioritize recovery. This reduces the risk of overtraining and maximises performance and gains, leading to better outcomes, customer satisfaction, and adherence. 

Sleep apps

Sleep Scores show how well someone slept, but the Recovery Score shows whether that sleep actually translated to recovery. Users can look for patterns, factoring in things like alcohol consumption, stress, or room temperature. This contextual insight drives behavior change more effectively than sleep metrics alone. 

Women’s health apps

Hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle can impact sleep quality and recovery. Women's health apps can combine cycle tracking with the Recovery Score to help users understand how their physiology changes across cycle phases. By integrating recovery insights, your app can offer personalized recommendations for training intensity, strategic scheduling, and self-care practices during low recovery phases.

Nutrition apps

Recovery Score can help correlate nutrition with physical restoration, particularly when combined with Sleep and Stress Scores 

Apps focused on continuous glucose monitoring can provide an even more complete picture by layering glucose stability data with Recovery Score, showing users how blood sugar patterns affect overall recovery and performance.

Corporate wellness apps

Employers increasingly recognize that well-rested, recovered employees are more productive, creative, and less prone to burnout or injury. Recovery tracking could provide objective metrics for wellness program effectiveness while respecting individual privacy through aggregated, anonymized data.

For high-performance or high-stress roles, tracking recovery can identify early burnout signals before they impact safety and performance. Corporate wellness platforms can trigger interventions, offering additional recovery resources or adjusted schedules.

In every use case, the Spike Recovery Score increases engagement, retention, and the actionable value of data.

Part of Spike Health Insights

Recovery Score is part of Spike Health Insights. You get four wellness scores that work together, giving your users a holistic view of health and performance while keeping your team focused on core product features. 

If you are already working with us, check the developer documentation to learn how to implement it. If you want to learn more, let’s schedule a personalized call to discuss your options. 

Resources:

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