Before I even take the covers off of myself to get out of bed, I can find out just how well I slept that night. My phone tells me how many hours I got, and whatever wearable device I have on can turn the night into a score. At lunchtime, I know exactly how many steps I’ve taken, how much protein I’ve eaten, and how many calories I’ve supposedly burned.
Somewhere along the way, taking care of us started to look a lot like keeping the score.
I understand why tracking appeals to people. It very much appeals to me. Seeing your sleep habits might encourage you to go to bed earlier. A step count can motivate you to take walks during your day or between classes. Paying attention to what you eat can help you feel more energized and better about yourself. None of these things are automatically bad, but when every part of your day comes with a number attached to it, it becomes easy to feel like that number is a judgment.
A low sleep score can make you expect to feel exhausted before you’ve even checked in with yourself. A day spent studying can feel “unproductive” because you didn’t hit your step goal. A meal you enjoyed can turn into more of a mental calculation of calories and macros, rather than just being a delicious, fulfilling meal.
The strange part is that numbers can start to feel more trustworthy than how our own bodies feel. We might wake up feeling rested, then question it when our app says that the sleep was poor. We might be hungry after reaching a calorie target or need a day off when our watch tells us we haven’t moved enough. Instead of using the data that we learn about ourselves, we can end up asking for permission to believe what we actually feel.
Social media adds another layer to this. Scrolling through TikTok can make it seem as though everyone is hitting 10,000 steps a day, eating high-protein meals, waking up early, and following a perfect workout routine. Even content that’s framed as “wellness” can leave us wondering whether or not we’re doing enough. It’s hard to see health as something personal when someone else’s routine is so visibly waiting to be compared with yours.
College makes that pressure especially easy to feel. Our schedules change constantly. Some weeks we have time to cook, exercise, and sleep well. Other weeks, we are balancing all these deadlines, jobs, friends, and whatever else life throws at us in the moment. A healthy routine should be able to make room for that reality. Missing a workout or staying up late to finish an assignment doesn’t mean that we’ve failed to take care of ourselves.
I don’t think we need to delete every app or throw away every fitness tracker. If the number helps you notice a pattern or do something that makes you feel good, it can be useful. I just think it’s worth asking yourself how you feel first. Does it help you understand yourself, or does it make you anxious about an otherwise ordinary day?
Health is more than a sleep score, a protein goal, or a ring closing on a screen. It includes rest, enjoyment, flexibility, and the ability to listen to yourself. Some of the best things we do for our well-being won’t show up on a dashboard at all.
I still want to take care of myself. I’m just learning that I don’t need a perfect score to know whether I am.