What 2025 WHOOP data says about healthspan, sleep, and strength

Podcast episode originally published on December 10, 2025

Healthspan, strength training, sleep consistency, and lab work all point to the same question: which habits are most likely to improve how well you age. In this episode of the WHOOP Podcast, Global Head of Human Performance, Principal Scientist at WHOOP Dr. Kristen Holmes and Senior Vice President of Research, Algorithms, and Data at WHOOP Emily Capodilupo explain how WHOOP turned that question into measurable targets inside Healthspan, Weekly Plan, WHOOP Coach, and Advanced Labs. This article breaks down the biggest ideas from their 2025 year-in-review conversation, including why VO2 max carries so much weight in WHOOP Age, how context-aware coaching changes travel and training guidance, and why muscle mass, blood biomarkers, and sleep timing matter long before disease shows up.

For the full discussion on Healthspan, Advanced Labs, and 2025 behavior trends, listen to Episode 353 of the WHOOP Podcast on Spotify.

How does WHOOP turn longevity into a weekly target you can act on?

WHOOP turns longevity into a weekly target by showing which inputs are currently driving your WHOOP Age, then tying those inputs to behaviors you can change. Instead of treating biological age as a black-box number, Healthspan breaks it into parts such as VO2 max, strength-related work, sleep consistency, and daily movement.

That design choice mattered a lot to Capodilupo. She said many older biological-age tools felt disconnected from reality because they compared people with the average American rather than with healthy reference ranges. In her view, that can produce flattering scores that do very little to change behavior. WHOOP took a different route by setting its referent age around meeting healthy recommendations, then showing members exactly how much each component can move the result.

The practical payoff is clarity. Capodilupo described seeing her own early WHOOP Age results before launch and being able to identify where the fastest gains were likely to come from. If VO2 max rose, WHOOP estimated how much age delta could improve. If strength training time increased, the model showed the likely effect there too. Sleep consistency was different. She had already pushed that input close to its ceiling, which meant the task was maintenance rather than improvement.

Capodilupo also connected Healthspan with Weekly Plan. Because WHOOP Age updates on Sundays, she used Weekly Plan to turn a long-horizon goal into repeatable daily actions during the week. That included step targets, training frequency, and making sure zone-based training lined up with the inputs that most influenced her age delta. In other words, the score became useful because it stopped being abstract.

Capodilupo gave a simple example from her own dashboard:

“I had this goal that on my birthday, I wanted my biological age or my WHOOP age to be 10 years younger than my chronological age.”

The other piece that made the feature more actionable was how it connected with WHOOP Coach. Holmes noted that if you ask WHOOP Coach how to lower your pace of aging based on your Healthspan data, the system can point to the levers most relevant to you rather than defaulting to generic advice. That moves longevity out of the category of vague ambition and into the category of planned behavior.

What you should take away

• Healthspan becomes actionable when WHOOP shows which specific inputs are driving your WHOOP Age
• Capodilupo used Weekly Plan to turn a Sunday WHOOP Age update into daily goals for steps, training, and consistency
• Healthy reference ranges are more useful than average-population comparisons when the goal is better aging, not a flattering score
• WHOOP Coach can help translate Healthspan into behavior changes that fit your actual data

How does WHOOP Coach get more useful when it remembers context?

Once longevity becomes something you can plan for, the next question is whether coaching can stay useful in real life. Holmes and Capodilupo argued that memory is the feature that changes WHOOP Coach from a one-off prompt tool into something closer to an ongoing health record.

Capodilupo described this through a half-marathon example. After telling WHOOP Coach that she was training for a race, later conversations about Healthspan took that goal into account automatically. The system could discuss how to keep moving her age delta in the right direction while also respecting the reality that race prep was the immediate priority. After the race passed, the advice changed again, because the context had changed.

Holmes saw the same thing during long-haul travel. Before a trip from the US East Coast to Dubai, she asked for ways to reduce the physiological cost of jet lag. The resulting guidance included timing of meals, how to approach the flight itself, and how schedule constraints on arrival would shape recovery. Capodilupo later described a similar trip to Doha, where the most useful part of memory was not just travel advice, but the fact that WHOOP Coach did not misread the trip as a permanent breakdown in habits.

That matters because context prevents false alarms. A sharp drop in sleep consistency at home may deserve one kind of feedback. The same drop during international travel needs a different response. Capodilupo said WHOOP Coach recognized that her poor scores in Doha were a one-time blip tied to time-zone change, and when she returned to Boston, the conversation shifted to getting over jet lag rather than lecturing her about habits she had not actually abandoned.

Capodilupo summed up the difference this way:

“It wasn’t reprimanding me for my sleep consistency falling off a cliff, and instead it was very supportive.”

Holmes made a similar point for people who have not tried WHOOP Coach recently. The feature changed as memory improved, and the easiest way to see that is to tell it what is happening in your life now. Race prep, travel, a work deadline, a new strength goal, or a lab result can all shape the advice that follows.

Holmes and Capodilupo talk through those travel and training examples in more detail in the full episode on Spotify.

What you should take away

• WHOOP Coach becomes more useful when it remembers goals, travel, and recent conversations
• Context-aware coaching helps prevent one-time disruptions, such as jet lag, from being treated like permanent habit failures
• Memory lets WHOOP Coach balance multiple priorities, such as race prep and Healthspan, in the same plan
• The fastest way to improve WHOOP Coach output is to tell it what is happening in your life right now

What can WHOOP Advanced Labs tell you that standard blood work often misses?

The next layer in the 2025 discussion was blood work, and Holmes and Capodilupo framed it carefully. Advanced Labs does not invent new biomarkers. The panel is built with testing through Quest Diagnostics. The added value is how WHOOP interprets those biomarkers alongside behavior and physiology already captured in the app.

Capodilupo drew a sharp line between disease thresholds and functional ranges. Traditional healthcare often does very well once a person crosses a clinical line, because diagnosis, medication, and disease management are built around that stage. The missed opportunity is the wide space before disease, when people may feel worse, perform worse, and recover worse even though they are still technically “normal” on a standard report.

Her phrasing on that point was one of the clearest in the episode:

“There’s this huge spectrum before you are sick [...] between optimal and merely not yet diseased.”

That distinction ran through Holmes’s story about her co-parent, Matt. After he stopped drinking and started paying closer attention to health, blood work still looked discouraging a couple of years in. Holmes said that several markers remained out of range, which is exactly the kind of moment that can make people feel that behavior change is pointless. Five years later, the picture was completely different. Testosterone had moved from about 300 into the 700s, and Holmes said every blood biomarker had improved.

Her explanation was important: blood markers often lag behavior change. Sleep, strain management, training quality, and alcohol reduction can improve daily physiology early, while lab markers may take much longer to settle into healthier ranges. Holmes also tied Matt’s improvement to a training change. Instead of constantly chasing workouts, he began using WHOOP to align volume and intensity with actual Recovery and capacity. The result, in her telling, was better fitness and better lab work at the same time.

Capodilupo added that some problems are much easier to fix than people assume. She shared her own postpartum example, where vitamin D came back at 19, far below where it should have been. The solution was simple and inexpensive, and the energy change was immediate. She also mentioned a colleague whose low vitamin B12 improved with basic supplementation. Her point was not that every lab issue is minor. Some are serious. Her point was that avoiding data because change sounds inconvenient can leave simple fixes sitting in plain sight.

The conversation then turned toward metabolic health. Holmes described preliminary Advanced Labs patterns that showed metabolic dysfunction was common among participants. She gave one colleague’s example of prediabetes-level markers, including HOMA-IR, HbA1c, and fasting glucose, then immediately asked a training question: how often do you lift? The colleague had never lifted before. That set up one of the episode’s biggest themes, which is that blood biomarkers and training behavior make more sense when you view them together.

Holmes also noted that Healthspan work was developed over several years with extensive literature review and input from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Advanced Labs extends that same approach by connecting biomarker interpretation to patterns in sleep, movement, Recovery, and training.

For the full section on functional lab ranges and metabolic markers, stream the full episode on Spotify.

What you should take away

• Advanced Labs adds value through interpretation and behavior context, not by inventing new blood biomarkers
• Functional problems can exist long before a standard disease threshold is crossed
• Blood biomarkers may improve more slowly than daily habits, sleep, or training quality
• Metabolic markers make more sense when paired with data on strength training, steps, and Recovery

Why do strength training and VO2 max matter so much for Healthspan?

Once Holmes and Capodilupo connected lab markers with behavior, the logic of Healthspan became easier to see. VO2 max ranked as the top Healthspan promoter in their global review, with an average impact of 0.82 years lower on WHOOP Age. Weekly zone 1 through 3 minutes came next at 0.45 years lower, and daily steps rounded out the top three contributors.

Capodilupo said VO2 max earns heavy weight because it reflects so many systems at once. It captures long-term exercise behavior, cardiorespiratory capacity, body composition, and how well the body supports work at higher intensities. Holmes described how that feedback changed her own training. When her first VO2 max reading came in at 47, she decided to chase more zone 4 and 5 work over the summer, made a goal to set a mile personal record, ran 6:15, and then saw VO2 max rise to 51 on later testing.

The same section of the episode turned into a direct case for strength training. Capodilupo argued that muscle can no longer be treated as a vanity topic or just a sports-performance topic. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, and without enough of it, the body handles glucose poorly. Holmes made the same point more directly, saying that poor muscle quality helps explain why fasting glucose, HbA1c, and insulin resistance markers drift out of range.

Holmes put the mechanism in plain language: a large share of glucose disposal can happen in muscle tissue. If muscle is low in quantity or low in quality, that glucose stays in circulation longer. From there, the conversation moved beyond lab chemistry to daily function. Capodilupo said getting on and off the toilet independently is, in practical terms, the ability to do a bodyweight squat. Carrying a heavy pan from the stove to the counter is strength. Living independently later in life is strength.

Her most direct warning was about the cost of doing nothing:

“If you’re not actively training, you’re going to lose 1% per year starting at around age 30.”

Capodilupo also cited the Australian LIFTMOR trial, which showed that heavy resistance training improved bone outcomes in postmenopausal women and challenged the idea that older women should avoid lifting substantial weight. Holmes reinforced the point with practical advice: if you have never lifted before, start with basic instruction and learn the movements.

Both experts also pushed back on the idea that motivation alone is enough. Capodilupo said WHOOP members sometimes get so excited by a Healthspan score or a lab result that they swing toward too much training too quickly. Holmes’s shorthand for that was simple: more is just more. For menstruating women who are not on hormonal birth control, Capodilupo said WHOOP Menstrual Cycle Insights can help spot early changes in cycle timing or length that may signal hormonal disruption and overreaching before the problem becomes larger.

The strength, VO2 max, and aging discussion is one of the strongest parts of the full episode on Spotify.

What you should take away

• VO2 max was the top Healthspan promoter in the 2025 review, followed by weekly zone 1 through 3 minutes and daily steps
• Strength training supports metabolic health because muscle tissue is a major site of glucose disposal
• Loss of muscle with age affects both lab markers and everyday independence
• Menstrual Cycle Insights can help flag overreaching early when cycle timing or length changes from your normal pattern

What does WHOOP data show about sleep consistency, steps, and other daily signals?

From there, the conversation widened from training to behaviors that are easier to miss because they feel ordinary. Capodilupo highlighted steps as one of the most accessible levers in the Healthspan model. After steps launched, she began using a walking treadmill under her desk and turned 10,000 steps into a Weekly Plan target. The benefit was not only the total number. It was the ability to accumulate movement in small pieces across the day rather than treating walking as a separate workout that needed a dedicated hour.

She described those step “snacks” as the difference between an unrealistic plan and a sustainable one. A thousand steps here and a thousand there can add up in a way that busy schedules actually permit. Capodilupo also said she could feel the difference during travel, when low-step days stood out immediately in how she felt.

Her description of the habit was unusually practical:

“I want to hit 10,000 steps a day [...] and if I’m not on track and I’m in my office, I pop on the treadmill.”

Holmes added the sleep side of the equation with several top-line findings from the 2025 review. Gen Z slept the most of the four major generations, and females slept more than males, averaging 434 minutes compared with 413. Bedtimes followed a predictable pattern from earliest to latest: boomers, Gen X, millennials, then Gen Z. Capodilupo explained that shift through circadian biology, noting that sleep preference tends to move earlier with age.

Even more important than those cross-sectional comparisons was the recurring message on sleep consistency. Capodilupo said WHOOP had been talking about it for years, but members responded more strongly once Healthspan showed how much irregular timing could age people. That changed behavior. Holmes said sleep consistency, along with strength training, was one of the biggest behavior shifts she saw after WHOOP Age launched.

The menstrual cycle discussion also fits here because Holmes and Capodilupo treated it as a daily signal, not only a reproductive-health feature. For women who are not on hormonal birth control, Capodilupo said changes in cycle regularity can be one of the earliest warnings that training load, energy availability, or stress has drifted out of a healthy range. WHOOP makes that signal easier to notice by tracking patterns over time rather than leaving people to guess from memory.

This is also where WHOOP Coach and memory reconnect with behavior change. Sleep consistency data is far more useful when the system knows whether a bad week came from travel, parenting, illness, or a pattern that has truly become chronic. The same holds for steps. A low-step day during a long flight means something different from a low-step day in the middle of a normal week.

What you should take away

• Steps are one of the most accessible Healthspan levers because they can be accumulated throughout the day
• Gen Z slept the most in the 2025 review, and females averaged more sleep than males
• Sleep consistency becomes more actionable when WHOOP distinguishes travel disruption from a real habit change
• Menstrual cycle regularity can act as an early warning signal for overreaching and low energy availability

What did the 2025 Year in Review reveal about global WHOOP trends?

After the feature discussion, Holmes closed the episode with the kind of scale only a year-in-review can show. WHOOP members logged 5.74 trillion steps in 2025, which Holmes said is roughly the distance to Neptune. They also logged 118.4 trillion kilograms lifted, which she compared with 789 million blue whales.

Holmes delivered the most memorable line of that segment herself:

“WHOOP members [logged] 5.74 trillion steps this year, and that’s equivalent to walking to Neptune.”

Those totals are fun on their own, but the more useful insight is how they connect back to behavior change. Holmes said weightlifting was the fastest-growing activity from 2024 to 2025. Field hockey ranked second, followed by paddle, gymnastics, and jumping rope. That first-place finish for weightlifting lines up with the broader Healthspan story from the episode. Once people saw a clearer relationship between muscle, metabolic health, and biological age, they started acting on it.

The country rankings told a similar story. Holmes said Slovakia held the best WHOOP age delta at 3.53 years younger, followed by Italy at 3.35 years younger, then the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Denmark. Capodilupo used those results to reflect on how culture and environment shape health behavior. After recent travel in the Gulf Cooperation Council, she said it was striking to see cities built with obvious room for movement, from group exercise studios on nearly every block to public paths designed separately for walking, running, and cycling.

That observation is useful because it shifts the question away from willpower alone. A good health environment lowers the cost of doing the right thing. A poor one raises it. WHOOP cannot redesign a city, but it can show which habits need the most help from schedule design, travel planning, or environmental changes at home and work.

For all of the 2025 superlatives, country rankings, and activity growth numbers, listen to the full episode on Spotify.

What you should take away

• WHOOP members logged 5.74 trillion steps and 118.4 trillion kilograms lifted in 2025
• Weightlifting was the fastest-growing activity from 2024 to 2025 in the year-in-review data
• Slovakia led the 2025 WHOOP age-delta rankings, followed by Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Denmark
• Health behavior is shaped by environment, which means better planning and better surroundings can support better outcomes

The bottom line

• Healthspan is most useful when WHOOP shows which inputs, such as VO2 max, steps, strength work, and sleep consistency, are moving your WHOOP Age
• VO2 max carried the largest average impact on WHOOP Age in the 2025 review, making higher-intensity aerobic work a major longevity lever
• Strength training supports metabolic health because muscle tissue helps dispose of glucose and supports independent function with age
• Advanced Labs can surface functional issues before disease thresholds are crossed by interpreting blood biomarkers alongside WHOOP behavior data
• Blood biomarkers often improve more slowly than daily habits, which means good behavior can be worth continuing even when lab results lag
• WHOOP Coach becomes more useful when memory helps it distinguish between temporary disruptions, such as travel, and real habit changes
• Steps and sleep consistency are accessible levers because they can be planned daily and tracked against Weekly Plan and Healthspan
• The 2025 year-in-review data showed that WHOOP members are lifting more, walking more, and getting clearer feedback about which behaviors support healthy aging

Frequently asked questions about things discussed in this episode

How does WHOOP calculate WHOOP Age?

WHOOP calculates WHOOP Age by combining Healthspan inputs such as VO2 max, movement, training, and sleep-related behaviors against healthy reference ranges, then showing how each input affects your age delta.

What does WHOOP Coach do with memory?

WHOOP Coach uses memory to retain relevant context, such as race training, travel, and prior conversations, so later guidance reflects your actual situation instead of treating every change as a brand-new problem.

What does WHOOP Advanced Labs add to standard blood work?

WHOOP Advanced Labs adds interpretation that connects biomarkers with daily behavior, Recovery, sleep, and training, which can help surface functional issues before they meet a formal disease threshold.

How does WHOOP connect strength training to metabolic health?

WHOOP connects strength training to metabolic health by linking muscle quality and training behavior with markers such as fasting glucose, HbA1c, and insulin resistance patterns discussed in the episode.

What does WHOOP show about steps and healthy aging?

WHOOP shows that daily steps are one of the top contributors to better Healthspan outcomes in the 2025 review, and Weekly Plan can turn that into a specific, repeatable target.

How does WHOOP use menstrual cycle data in training insights?

WHOOP uses cycle timing and regularity to help identify patterns that may reflect overreaching or hormonal disruption, especially for women who are not on hormonal birth control.

What does WHOOP show about sleep consistency in 2025?

WHOOP shows that sleep consistency remains one of the clearest behavior levers for better Healthspan, and WHOOP Coach can interpret bad weeks differently when travel or other context explains the disruption.

On WHOOP, the clearest lesson from 2025 is that better aging comes from turning big goals like longevity into weekly targets for movement, sleep timing, strength work, and lab-informed follow-through.