Last month, Carol, 71, came in wearing her new fitness watch. She looked a little frustrated and said, “The watch says my heart rate is only 95. I feel like I’m working hard, but it keeps telling me I’m barely exercising. Should I push harder?”

Carol wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was simply discovering what many of us learn the hard way:

Your watch measures heart rate. It does not measure how hard your body is actually working.

Heart rate can be influenced by many things that have nothing to do with effort: medications (especially beta blockers), hydration, caffeine, temperature, stress, how well you slept, or even the time of day. For some people, the heart rate number stays low even when they’re breathing hard and their legs feel heavy. For others, it shoots up quickly even with light activity.

That’s why perceived exertion — how hard the effort feels to you — is often more honest and more useful than the number on your wrist.

A gentle way to check in with yourself is the “talk test”:

• Can you speak full sentences comfortably? → Light effort
• Can you speak short sentences but need to catch your breath? → Moderate effort
• Can you only say a few words before needing air? → Vigorous effort

This simple scale respects your body’s real-time signals far better than a watch that can’t see your medications, your joints, or how your nervous system is responding that day.

Safety matters more than hitting a target number. If you feel dizzy, short of breath in a concerning way, chest pressure, or unusual fatigue, those signals matter more than any watch reading.

You don’t have to ignore your watch completely. Just treat it as one piece of information — not the boss.

This week, try this simple awareness check during any movement you enjoy:

Do the activity for a few minutes while wearing your watch. Then ask yourself: “How hard does this feel on a scale of 1 to 10?” (1 = resting, 10 = maximum effort) Can I speak comfortably? Does my body feel like it’s working at a level that feels safe and sustainable for me today?

Let the watch give you data, but let your own body give you the final vote.

Next Tuesday we’ll keep exploring how to listen to your body with kindness and clarity.

If you know someone who gets discouraged because “my watch says I’m not working hard enough” or who pushes past how they feel to chase a number… please forward this to them right now. You might help them trust their own effort instead of just the number on their wrist.