PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is a life-long condition and the best way to manage this disorder and live a happy life is through long-lasting lifestyle changes. You can find out more information about this strategy in my previous article ‘How To Treat PCOS Naturally (Science-Based Guidelines)’.
While changing your lifestyle and creating new habits in multiple different areas is not an easy task to do, there are a few great gadgets that may help you achieve your goals and manage PCOS the same way they helped me.
I picked my favorite products that I use on a regular basis and that had the biggest impact on improving my PCOS. In this article, I’ll explain why I personally use them and how they help me live a healthy lifestyle. So hopefully, some of them can help you as well or you might get some inspiration for a few PCOS-friendly gifts.
1. Fitness tracker
A fitness tracker is probably my most favorite and the most beneficial device for managing PCOS I own (and I have a lot of gadgets in my collection). I remember when I got my first Fitbit in 2017 and how it absolutely changed the game for me even though it was capable of far fewer functions than it is today.
What is a fitness tracker?
If you’re not familiar with this type of technology, it’s essentially a piece of device you can wear on your wrist (as a watch) or finger (as a ring) that tracks your daily activity and other valuable health metrics.
It is able to constantly track your heartbeat, sleep patterns, steps, sports activities and the amount of calories you burn. The one that I currently use (Fitbit Inspire 2) can also track other data such as my calorie intake, menstrual cycle, skin temperature, stress levels, breathing patterns and even mindfulness.
How does it help?
Since I’m a very data-driven person I find these functions and technological advantages extremely valuable. If you’re just starting to implement new healthy habits into your life, a fitness tracker can be a great way to monitor your progress and keep you motivated on your journey.
It really helped me to learn more about my body and prioritize some important aspects of my lifestyle I was neglecting, especially my sleep habits and daily activity levels. Seeing those data (especially once I started improving) kept me going and allowed me to create a lifestyle I now can stick to and enjoy.
While this could be only due to my personality and may not work for everyone, I’d still give it a go since it is so convenient and easy to use. Fitness trackers have improved a lot in recent years and became more accessible than ever.
My experience
I personally had the best experience with the original Fitbit trackers as they have really high-quality products, a great user-friendly app (able to connect with other devices and phone apps) and really long battery life (mine usually lasts up to 14 days without charging).
They have many different variations and designs you can choose from based on your preferences but my all-time favorite is Fitbit Inspire 2 (available on Amazon) due to its minimalistic design and updated functions.
I’ve also tried the Apple Watch Series 5 in the past which also offers many great functions but it requires recharging pretty much every day and it’s not as comfortable to sleep with if you want to track your sleep patterns. However, if you want the additional benefits of the Apple Watch, it is also a great product for tracking multiple lifestyle habits and health metrics.
2. Smart scale
A smart scale is another great device that can provide you with some additional valuable data to track your progress and learn more about your body and overall health. While I don’t think that the number on your scale is necessarily the best indicator of your health or your progress, I do think that smart scales can be extremely useful for many people including women with PCOS.
What is a smart scale?
The biggest advantage of nowadays smart scales is that they’re able to measure not only your overall weight but more importantly your body composition including your muscle mass, fat percentage, body water and bone mass.
It is true that the data may not be as accurate as other expensive body composition assessments such as the DEXA scan, but the technology of smart scales has improved a lot lately. So getting a smart scale can be a convenient and much cheaper way to access those data from the comfort of your home on a daily basis.
I personally never used to weigh myself since I knew that it didn’t tell me much about my health and I actually found it more stressful than helpful. But when I started working out more consistently I wanted to keep track of my body composition so I could make relevant changes and see what works for me best. That’s when I got my first smart scale and I would never go back.
How does it help?
It really helped me understand how my body works and how it responds to different factors and situations. When you also track other data (such as your sleep, activity, menstrual cycle, stress or calorie intake), you can clearly see how those factors directly influence your body composition (e.g. how your water retention fluctuates, if you’re gaining muscle or losing fat).
If your goal is weight loss, it can be sometimes very frustrating not to see any changes on your scale. However, no changes in your weight don’t necessarily mean that you’re not progressing.
When you start exercising and making dietary changes, you’re more likely to start gaining muscles and losing fat. And since muscle tissue is much more dense than fat tissue (aka it takes up less space than the equal amount of fat) the number on your scale may not go down or not as quickly as you’d like.
But with the smart scale’s advantage of assessing your body composition instead of just overall weight, you’re more likely to stay motivated and therefore achieve your goals. It definitely made my life easier and saved me a lot of money, too.
My experience
There are now many different types of smart scales available on the market so you can choose the one that fits your needs best. Always look for the metrics they actually measure (some will give you more valuable data than others) and the software they use (some will support connecting to other apps you might use).
I personally like the Withings smart scales best as they offer the most advanced functions I was able to find amongst smart scales and they support data synchronization with other wellness apps including Fitbit and MyFitnesspal.
I’m currently using the Withings Body Cardio smart scale (available on Amazon) and it syncs with my Fitbit app really well so I’m able to have all my data in one place.
Fitbit also has their own smart scales and while I absolutely love their fitness trackers, their scales don’t offer as many functions and advantages (e.g. no data on water retention, bone mass) so it wouldn’t be my first choice. However, for some people, the functions could be sufficient enough.
3. Glucose monitor
If you suffer from PCOS you are probably already familiar with the role of insulin resistance in this condition. If you’d like to get more details on this issue I suggest you read my previous in-depth article ‘PCOS Insulin Resistance Explained & How To Reverse It’.
Insulin resistance & PCOS
In a short summary, insulin resistance appears to be one of the root causes of PCOS since high levels of insulin may lead to overproduction of androgens (the ‘male’ hormones) and therefore can cause many of the common PCOS symptoms (irregular periods, acne, hirsutism, hair loss).
The good news is that insulin resistance, in most cases, can be reversed through dietary and lifestyle changes particularly focused on blood sugar management. That’s because insulin is released in response to increased blood sugar levels which are affected predominantly by our diet and other lifestyle factors.
While there are many general recommendations on how to make dietary changes to effectively control blood sugar levels and reduce insulin resistance (such as a low-carb diet, keto, intermittent fasting) the truth is that we are all different and so our bodies also respond differently to various factors.
That’s why I think it’s so important to use an individual approach to diet and lifestyle, in general, if you want to get the best results and achieve optimal health. And that’s when monitoring your glucose levels can become really handy.
What is a glucose monitor?
Glucometers and glucose monitors are able to accurately measure the level of glucose in your blood which allows you to track your body responses to different dietary and lifestyle choices.
It is especially helpful to see what types of foods or food combinations have the most positive and negative effects on your glucose levels so you can make relevant changes based on your personalized data rather than general guidelines.
I experimented with a lot of dietary approaches in the past to manage my PCOS but I was never sure what actually made the difference and if I wasn’t being unnecessarily too restrictive. That’s why I decided to get my first glucometer and I found great value in this little device (but again – I’m a very nerdy data-driven person).
It can definitely help you better understand your body and speed up the process of finding the best suitable diet and lifestyle for you (especially at the beginning). However, it’s not something you need to do all the time if you don’t suffer from serious blood sugar problems (such as diabetes).
On the other hand, studies have shown that more than 50% of women with PCOS develop type 2 diabetes before the age of 40 which is why monitoring your glucose levels and early interventions could help prevent some of those consequences.
Finger stick glucometer
The regular glucometer requires you to take a blood sample from your finger with a special ‘pen’ every time you want to measure your blood glucose levels. I used the Contour Next One blood glucose monitor (available on Amazon) which was really great as it uses a wireless system that connects to your phone app so you don’t have to enter all your data manually.
Even though this method of measuring blood glucose levels is very easy and painless, it may not be for everyone as it takes a bit of effort if you want to get accurate data throughout the day. However, with today’s technological advancements there are other options to monitor your blood glucose levels that are much more convenient and accurate.
Continuous glucose monitor
I recently upgraded to Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) which is a small device that automatically tracks your glucose levels all day and all night through a small sensor you put on the back of your arm. It connects to your phone app where you’re able to see all the data in real-time so it literally takes no effort to get your measurements done.
While this type of glucose monitor is way more expensive than a regular strip glucometer, it is currently the best and most accurate way to identify your daily glucose patterns and body responses to different lifestyle factors. So if you’re serious about keeping your blood sugar levels balanced and improving your insulin resistance, it can be a great help as it was for me.
4. Ovulation tracker
One of the most common symptoms of PCOS is having an abnormal menstrual cycle due to severe hormone imbalances. This usually means that you’re less likely to ovulate (or not as frequently) and experience irregular or completely missing periods.
If you’re trying to get pregnant, this becomes a serious issue for obvious reasons but even if you’re not trying, an abnormal menstrual cycle and anovulation is big health concern. Keeping track of your ovulation cycle is particularly important when trying to conceive, however, it can also be a good indicator of your overall hormonal health.
Ovulation tracking methods
There are several methods to track your ovulation and they all differ in terms of their accuracy and how suitable they are for women with PCOS. Some of them (such as ovulation predictor kits) are based on measuring the levels of specific hormones (LH – luteinizing hormone) through your urine sample to predict ovulation.
However, women with PCOS have been shown to have constantly abnormal levels of this hormone which is why they’re less likely to get accurate data from this technique.
Other methods are predominantly based on the measurement of your temperature (either basal or core body temperature) to track your ovulation. You can manually take your temperature every morning straight after waking up (to get your temperature at ‘rest’) and track any changes indicating ovulation (rapid increase in temperature for a few days).
However, the data you obtain from this method may not be the most reliable as they can be highly influenced by many factors including your sleeping patterns, stress, traveling or alcohol consumption. It’s also not the most practical one because it requires you to wake up every day at the same time and remember to take your temperature as soon as possible.
Basal body temperature tracker
Fortunately, there are other more convenient and accurate ways to do that thanks to modern technology. One of them is an ovulation and fertility tracker Tempdrop (available on Amazon) that I personally use to track my ovulation cycle and fertility window.
It is a small non-invasive device that you wear as a band on your arm overnight and it continuously monitors your basal body temperature during your sleep. When you take it off in the morning you can easily sync the data to your phone app and see the analysis.
The good thing is that it’s able to learn your sleeping temperature patterns over time so it can give even more accurate and personalized data regarding your ovulation cycle. It’s able to filter out any potential variables (such as poor sleep, alcohol, night shifts or travels) that may influence the data you get.
While this is a great and easy way to track your cycle it is predominantly accurate at telling you when the ovulation has already happened (when your temperature rises) since the data are based on your basal body temperature. If, however, your goal is to become pregnant, you will need to know in advance when you’re about to ovulate.
Core body temperature tracker
For more accurate predictions of your upcoming ovulation, it’s best to measure your core body temperature rather than basal as it can detect even the smallest changes. One of the best ways to do that is with a smart device Ovusense (available on Amazon) that is able to monitor your core body temperature through a vaginal sensor that needs to be inserted every night before going to sleep.
Even though it may not be as comfortable as other methods, it can make highly accurate predictions of your next ovulation up to 24h in advance. Therefore, if you suffer from PCOS and you want to maximally increase your chances of conception, this appears to be the most accurate predictor currently available.
If your goal is to generally track your ovulation as an indicator of your hormonal health, monitors assessing your basal body temperature are still a great choice.
5. Breath analyzer
There are many ways in which you can access important information regarding your health and how your body functions and one of them is through your breath. You can learn a lot of things through the analysis of your breath and many smart devices are based on this mechanism.
Apart from the classic breathalyzers assessing the amount of alcohol in your body, there are also others that can be really helpful for the management of PCOS. I’ve tried a couple of them (cause I’m a gadget girl) and some of them were actually worth it since they gave me some really valuable data I could work with.
Digestive health tracker
One of them is FoodMarble (available on Amazon) which is a small breath tester that can assess your body’s ability to digest certain foods and monitor your gut health. This little device can be especially helpful for someone suffering from bloating and digestive issues since it can help identify any ‘trigger’ foods responsible for those issues.
Lots of women with PCOS (me included) suffer from bloating and digestive issues due to their hormonal imbalances and due to having dysbiosis (imbalance of gut bacteria). But the problem is that our digestive system is very unique and we are all sensitive to different types of foods.
That’s why, in many cases, following general recommendations on limiting certain foods will not work for all individuals. It usually takes a lot of effort involving many tries and errors to actually identify your triggers. So having some personalized data on how certain foods are digested by your unique body can save you a lot of time, effort and discomfort.
While I was already pretty familiar with my body responses to certain foods thanks to years of manual diary tracking, I could never pinpoint the less obvious ones that triggered some of my digestive and skin issues. So for me, personally, it was a great help to get some reliable data and modify my diet accordingly.
Metabolism tracker
Another great thing you can measure through your breath is what type of metabolic pathway your body is using in real time. This basically means that you can measure whether your body is burning fat or whether it’s running on carbs and using glucose as its main source of energy.
Now, this data may not be as important for everyone, but if you’re an athlete or if you’re implementing new lifestyle changes and dietary strategies into your life, it can help you better understand what actually works and what doesn’t.
Some popular strategies in the management of PCOS involve implementing a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet as well as intermittent fasting to improve insulin resistance and support weight loss.
Therefore, data assessing your metabolism through your breath (which is a highly accurate technique) may be valuable for you. However, this device is more of an extra tool for most people (and not necessary) unless you’re a nerd who just loves to track data like me.
My experience
You can either get a simple ketone meter (I have V2 KETOSCAN available on Amazon) which is based on measuring the levels of acetone in your breath and calculates your fat-burning rate. It’s a cheaper version and it syncs well with your mobile app.
I also recently got my hands on the new Lumen metabolism meter which is based on assessing your RER (respiratory exchange ratio) through a CO2 concentration in your breath. It is a bit more advanced device offering not only more valuable data but also more guidance regarding your diet, exercise and lifestyle habits.
While it is a slightly bigger investment, it can be extremely helpful for someone with less knowledge in those areas as it provides personalized suggestions and daily plans based on your recorded data, long-term goals, workout regime and dietary preferences.
The app is also very user-friendly with some great health-related information and explanations so it’s actually fun to use.
Please note that none of those devices are absolutely essential to manage PCOS and that you can successfully do so even without using them. However, they definitely helped me on my personal journey with PCOS which is why I believe they might help someone else, too.
Resources:
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