In a recent article for The New York Times, reporter Matt Richtel highlighted a compelling idea: just a tiny bit of math might help improve your heart health. This insight comes from a new study published by researchers at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and featured in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study introduces a simple but powerful equation that anyone with a smartwatch can use to better understand how efficiently their heart is working.
The Heart of the Equation
Most people already use wearable devices to track health metrics like step count and average heart rate. But the Northwestern researchers propose combining those numbers into a single value: your daily heart rate per step, or DHRPS. To calculate it, divide your average daily heart rate by your average number of steps. A lower ratio suggests your heart is working more efficiently.
For example, someone with an average heart rate of 80 and 10,000 steps per day would have a DHRPS of 0.008. If someone else took the same number of steps but had a heart rate of 120, their DHRPS would be 0.012 — a higher number that indicates greater cardiac strain.
Researchers found that people with higher DHRPS ratios were more likely to have serious health problems like Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and even heart attacks. This makes the ratio a potentially valuable tool for spotting risks before symptoms appear.
Why Simple Metrics Matter
What makes DHRPS so useful is that it doesn’t require fancy tests or expensive equipment. It uses data already collected by devices like Fitbits or Apple Watches. According to Zhanlin Chen, the study’s lead author, “People who want to be in charge of their own health can do a little bit of math to figure this out.”
Experts like Dr. Peter Aziz, a pediatric cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, agree. He pointed out that DHRPS adds context to raw data by showing how much effort the heart puts out relative to physical activity. That’s a better snapshot of cardiovascular fitness than heart rate or step count alone.
Sleep Smarter with a Bit of Math
Beyond heart health, math can improve how well you sleep. According to Dr. Charles Puza, a dermatologist and self-described biohacker, calculating your “ideal bedtime” based on sleep cycles can help you wake up feeling refreshed rather than groggy.
The key is understanding that sleep occurs in roughly 90-minute cycles. To feel your best, you should wake up at the end of a cycle — not in the middle of one. Puza recommends allowing about 15 minutes to fall asleep, then subtracting 7 hours and 45 minutes from your wake-up time to find the best bedtime. For example, if you need to be up by 7 a.m., going to bed at 11:15 p.m. aligns you with five full sleep cycles.
Emotional Health and Mental Math
Math may also benefit your mental health. A study from Duke University found that solving mental math problems activates a brain region linked to emotional regulation. The more active this region — the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — the better people are at managing stress, fear, and anxiety.
Participants in the study who performed better at memory-based math exercises reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, especially after going through stressful life events. While more research is needed, the findings suggest that even mental arithmetic could serve as a brain-training tool to improve emotional well-being.
Early Math Skills, Lifelong Benefits
The positive effects of math begin early in life. According to a report from the Urban Institute, boosting children’s math scores can significantly increase their earnings as adults. Improving math performance in preschool was linked to a 2.5 percent increase in earnings by age 30, while gains in middle childhood led to a 3.5 percent increase.
This kind of impact was greater than that of improved reading scores or physical health alone. Policymakers, educators, and families could make real strides in reducing inequality and promoting upward mobility by investing in early math education.
Modeling the Body with Math
Finally, math is helping scientists understand the body itself. Researchers from the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley are developing mathematical models to study how cells grow, interact, and sometimes fail — as in cancer. By combining math with biology, they hope to unlock new insights into how genes are expressed and how tissues function.
This approach builds on the work of Alan Turing, who used math to explain patterns in nature. Today’s scientists are applying similar ideas to model everything from gene regulation to organ development. The goal is to create better computer models of the human body, which could lead to breakthroughs in medicine and disease treatment.
Small Numbers, Big Results
What all these examples show is that even simple math — whether dividing two numbers, working backward from a bedtime, or solving equations in your head — can lead to better health outcomes. You don’t need to be a math whiz to take advantage of these insights. Just a little arithmetic, used wisely, can go a long way in helping your body and brain thrive.
