Red Light Technology Makes This Hydration Monitor A Viable Fitness Tracker

Conor Hockett March 15th, 2017

While most of us grew up hearing the 8x8 rule, hydration isn’t as simple as drinking eight glasses of water per day.

Factors like exercise habits, physiological health, and living environment all impact your hydration level, so it’s hard for researchers to agree on standard guidelines for fluid consumption.

To be fair, even if there was a set amount of water that people were supposed to drink, that doesn’t mean everyone would actually follow it. Whether you live on coffee throughout the day or simply forget to drink water, it’s difficult to stay hydrated.

That’s why the LVL hydration monitor comes in handy — it tracks your body’s hydration in real-time, alerts you when you need fluids, and then explains what kind of performance boost to expect from your consumption.

How The LVL Hydration Monitor Works

Feedback from the LVL hydration monitor manifests itself in different ways throughout the day.

• Pre-Workout: The device tells you how much water to drink to maximize your performance
• Mid-Workout: Based on your sweat levels, the LVL wristband calculates how much fluid you need to maintain and achieve the best results
• Post-Workout: During your rest and recovery stage, the hydration monitor tells you how much fluid to consume to recuperate faster and sleep better

The LVL wristband doesn’t stop at just hydration. Using its infrared technology, the device continuously monitors your heart rate, tracks activity and sleep, and helps you predict your mood based on these results. All of this data is available through the corresponding mobile app, which works with both Android and iOS.

While many fitness trackers, like the Samsung Gear Fit 2 and the Fitbit Charge 2, have green LEDs that measure heart rate through photoplethysmography (PPG), the LVL uses more advanced infrared.

According to the device’s Kickstarter page, this red light technology penetrates 10 times deeper into the body than green light, which helps the LVL more accurately measure hydration levels and heart rate.

Many fitness wearables help you track how much water you consume by the glass, but users must log this information themselves, and this number gives little insight into overall hydration. The LVL wristband does the work for you by measuring your hydration levels continuously throughout the day.

The LVL hydration monitor is currently available for pre-order on its website for $149.99. It comes with a choice of silicone or leather bands and is slated to ship in August 2017.