By Hoang Long, writing for Introductory Psychology class, 26/02/2023
Quantified Self (QS) is the practice of using technology to collect data on various aspects of one's life, including physical activity, sleep, nutrition, and mental health. By tracking patterns and trends over time, individuals can gain insights into their behavior, set goals, and make informed decisions about their health and well-being.
Here is the short video explaining it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V08dWCtDyd8&embeds_euri=https://buihoanglong.wixsite.com/&embeds_origin=https://buihoanglong.wixsite.com&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE
Below is some of my experiment to apply QS approach for my daily life
Evaluating sleep can be difficult as the observer cannot directly experience it. One can only assess parts of it after waking up, such as whether they feel tired or not and the total sleep time to determine when they slept and woke up.
Thankfully, current users can evaluate their sleep using devices such as smartwatches. These devices allow for quantitative evaluation of sleep quality and automatic data collection over long periods of time, such as a week, month, or year.
Below are some of my sleep analyses using a smartwatch from the past few years.
Based on the data from one week in January 2021, as shown in the graph, it is clear that I experienced frequent episodes of sleep deprivation and had an inconsistent sleep and waking schedule.
The chart below displays the average monthly sleep time for 2021, with one year's worth of data. It is clear that I experience systematic sleep deprivation when my sleep time is only about 5.5 to 6 hours per night.
On a smaller scale, I analyze the sleep quality of each night by analyzing my light or deep sleep phases each night. Additionally, I compare my sleep quality with the average user. I also link the quality of my sleep to my daily activities. For example, I have noticed that when I am physically active during the day, I sleep deeply and wake up less often at night.
To monitor my health, I rely on four key metrics to measure:
What I Eat
I take pictures of what I eat daily to become more aware of my eating habits. This helps me see patterns in my diet and identify areas where I can improve. For example, I may notice that I'm consuming too much sugar or not enough protein. By tracking my food intake, I am able to make informed decisions about what to eat and how much to eat, helping me maintain a healthy diet.
Daily Activities
As a runner, I track my physical activity by the number of kilometers I run each week. Tracking my physical activity helps me set goals, monitor my progress, and make informed decisions about my training. By using a Strava app on my phone, I can easily keep track of my runs and see detailed information about each one, such as distance, pace, and calories burned.
Weight
Regularly monitoring my weight serves as a warning system. Below is an example of one such time, coinciding with a period when I didn't pay attention to my diet and exercise.
Emotion 😅
Over the last three days, I conducted a survey randomly selecting different emotions (happy, tired, sad, etc.) and answering with either yes or no. I assigned green for yes and red for no. Overall, I felt more tired and anxious than happy. 😅
