Cory Booker’s historic 25-hour speech before the Senate on Tuesday not only caught the nation’s attention but that of his fitness tracker too.
The New Jersey senator’s Oura ring reported him experiencing a rise in his stress levels, heart rate and movement after he launched his nonstop, marathon speech shortly after 7 p.m. Monday. He ended just after 8 p.m. Tuesday, breaking the record set in 1957 by the late segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond.
Booker’s health data, shared with HuffPost, shows that his stress levels heavily spiked for about an hour just before the end of Monday night. The next day it recorded a little more than four hours of similar stress, particularly near the end of his speech when he appeared more fatigued though still mentally sharp and passionate in his oration.
Office of Sen. Cory Booker
His heart rate topped 100 BPM almost the entire time he was speaking, according to the data, placing him within the recommended target heart rate zone for someone exercising at his age of 55. At its highest, his heart rate hit 131 BPM.
His Oura ring repeatedly asked if he was exercising during his speech, he told The New York Times.
Despite Booker standing behind a lectern for the duration, his ring also estimated that he walked several miles — nearly seven miles on Tuesday alone — while he paced and balanced from foot to foot.
Office of Sen. Cory Booker
He told Men’s Health that he increased his movement during the third hour of his speech after feeling his feet start to go numb.
“I just started shifting back and forth a lot to try to get blood flowing through my legs,” he said.
His “readiness” score, which reports his body’s preparedness for physical activity, was nonexistent Tuesday and it fell to 58 on Wednesday, the day after his speech. “Pay attention,” his score instructed him. It had been at a 75, or “good,” on Monday.
Office of Sen. Cory Booker
After exiting the floor, Booker told reporters that he broke his fast by eating a banana and drinking water that was given to him by aides.
“By the last hours, I definitely had signs of dehydration,” he told lawyer and Democratic activist Aaron Parnas. He compared the water he was given to “the best ambrosia to drink.”
To prepare for his speech, Booker said, he stopped eating Friday night and drinking on Sunday night to avoid having to use the bathroom. He denied using a diaper or catheter, instead saying he relied on dehydration to keep him on the floor without having to use a restroom. He also got a good rest the night before, according to his ring’s data.
That data shared with HuffPost shows that he slept for 7 hours and 30 minutes on Monday, earning him a “good” sleep score of 74. There was no sleep score recorded for Tuesday, and on Wednesday it recorded him sleeping for 6 hours and 55 minutes, earning him a similar sleep score of 72.
Booker said he intended to speak only for as long as he was physically able to and that his goal wasn’t necessarily to break the record of Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Thurmond reportedly did receive a bathroom break.
We Don’t Work For Billionaires. We Work For You.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
When Booker did break that 68-year record, though, he took a moment to acknowledge his predecessor from South Carolina and the racial barriers that have been broken since Thurmond’s time in office.
“To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand,” said Booker, who is the first Black U.S. senator to represent New Jersey. “I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.”