Daily health score built on fixed rules
What a daily health score should measure, and exactly what raises and lowers FORM’s: food, water, steps, training, sleep, recovery and stress.
What is a daily health score?
A daily health score rolls several habits into one number: what you ate, how much you moved, how you slept and how recovered you are. A useful one follows clear rules, weighs recent days more than old ones, and copes with missing data. It summarizes habits. It is not a medical measurement, and it can’t see anything you don’t log or sync.
How it works in FORM
- Log and sync the dayLog meals and water, train, and let your wearable sync steps, sleep and recovery through Apple Health or Health Connect.
- Fixed rules score each partThe same rules read protein, fiber, sodium, steps, training minutes, sleep, stress and more. No AI decides the number.
- Recent days count mostThe score looks back 14 days and weights recent days more, so one heavy dinner moves it a little, not a lot.
- Check the Today dialThe dial on Today averages whichever of five pillars have data: Food, Sleep, Recovery, Activity and Training.
One number for your health sounds too simple, and it is. No single score captures a body. But one number for your habits can be useful, as long as you know how it’s built. A score you can’t explain is a black box. A score you can explain is a checklist. This page is the explanation.
What a good health score should do
- Use clear rules: you should be able to see why it moved.
- Read the whole day: food, movement, sleep and recovery, not just steps.
- Favor recent days: last week matters more than last month.
- Cap the good stuff: past a point, more steps or a longer session shouldn’t keep adding points.
- Cope with gaps: a night without your watch shouldn’t count as a terrible night.
How FORM builds its Health Score
FORM’s Health Score is calculated by fixed rules. No AI decides it, and the same inputs always give the same score. Each rule reads one part of what you logged or synced. Some push the score up. Some pull it down.
| Part of the day | Raises the score | Lowers the score |
|---|---|---|
| Food | Protein, fiber, plant foods, meal quality, and calories near your target | Sodium over 2,300 mg, sugar over 50 g, processed meals |
| Drinks | Water | Alcohol and caffeine |
| Movement | Steps, counted up to 10,000, and training, counted up to 45 minutes | — |
| Rest | Sleep, recovery and low stress | High stress |
A few details matter. The 2,300 mg sodium line matches the upper limit in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. “Calories near target” means near the target FORM set for your goal, which you can edit. And the food side reads what you logged, so a plate of lentils, greens and salmon counts for more than the same calories from a packet.
The caps are deliberate. Steps count up to 10,000 and training up to 45 minutes. Past that, more doesn’t raise the score. A three-hour session gets the same training credit as a solid 45 minutes. The score rewards doing enough most days, not doing the most on one.
Why it looks back 14 days
A day-by-day score would swing wildly. Pizza on Friday, a great Saturday, a short night on Sunday. FORM weights the score toward recent days across a 14-day window. Yesterday counts more than last Tuesday, and last Tuesday still counts. One meal doesn’t sink it. One perfect day doesn’t fix it either. A week of steadier habits is what moves it.
The Today dial is a different number
The Health Score is the longer view. The Today dial is just today. It averages up to five pillars: Food, Sleep, Recovery, Activity and Training. A pillar with no data is left out of the average rather than counted as zero. Forget your watch one night, and the dial averages the pillars you do have. Sleep and recovery data come from your wearable, through the sleep tracker and the recovery score.
When the score helps, and when it doesn’t
- Helps: seeing which habit slipped over the last two weeks, like water or sleep, without digging through five screens.
- Helps: keeping one bad day in proportion.
- Doesn’t help: judging a single meal. That’s what the Food Score is for.
- Doesn’t help: if you log only some meals. The score can only read what’s there.
- Doesn’t help: if chasing a number makes you anxious. The habits matter. The number is a summary of them.
Honest limits
The Health Score is a summary of habits. It isn’t a medical measurement, and FORM does not diagnose anything. It can’t see blood pressure, glucose or cholesterol. It doesn’t know your medical history. It can’t see a meal you didn’t log, and food numbers are estimates in the first place. If you have a condition that changes what healthy eating means for you, such as kidney disease or diabetes, your doctor’s targets come first. For how the score sits next to everything else FORM shows, read the health overview.
FAQ
Is the FORM Health Score calculated by AI?
No. It’s calculated by fixed rules. The same inputs always give the same score.
Why didn’t my score crash after one bad day?
Recent days count more, but the score spans 14 days. One day moves it a little. A week of changes moves it more.
Does walking more than 10,000 steps raise my score?
No. Steps count up to 10,000. Past that, the score doesn’t rise further, though the walk is still worth taking.
Does coffee lower my Health Score?
Caffeine is one of the things that lowers it, along with alcohol, sodium over 2,300 mg, sugar over 50 g, processed meals and high stress.
Do I need a watch to get a Health Score?
No, but the score sees more with one. Food, water and training fill part of it. Sleep, recovery and stress need a wearable that syncs to Apple Health or Health Connect.