Tracking your steps, heart rate and sleep using a fitness tracker is old hat. Now, dedicated fitness enthusiasts can track their blood glucose level live via their phone, thanks to Bengaluru-based startup Ultrahuman. As opposed to a traditional fitness tracker, the Ultrahuman M1 is an arm-mounted invasive sensor that users must poke into their arms via a spring loaded applicator, and then connect it to their phones. In exchange for sticking the sensor in, users get live updates on their blood glucose levels–seeing it spike or dip in real time. The app provides a “metabolic score”, calculated based on glucose variability, average glucose score, and time in target zone. The score, marked out of 100, is reset every night, and users must try and keep it as high as possible.

Urmi Kothari, an energy coach and founder of Kinetic Living, has been using the device for the past four months. “The beauty of it is that you don’t have to wear it every day,” she says. “When I first got it, I wore it for a month to understand my lifestyle and how I could tweak and hack it, but unless you have a medical condition or are a serious athlete, there’s no reason to wear it every day.” Kothari found the device useful to point out stressors and little ways to reduce a blood glucose spike–such as taking a walk after a meal, or realising that she wasn’t getting enough sleep on work retreats. “You can integrate changes into your lifestyle, but also let your body’s intelligence guide and communicate with you,” she stresses. The app also provides in-app coaches to help you understand the data it provides, and Kothari says this is crucial to getting the most out of the device—“It is important to have a context and be educated; look at your goals and then assess your need.”