Back in 2011 I started my first job out of college. One of the major perks was free Diet Mountain Dew (though I had to walk across the building to get it). I quickly found myself addicted and was sneaking away several times a day to get my fix. It was also around this time I found out about a movement popping up in tech circles: Quantitative Self. The premise was simple; people make the best decisions when they have all the data. Quantified self was a movement where people tracked themselves. They tracked their weight, their mood, the nutrients (and junk) they consumed, all to improve their quality of life.
I was intrigued, but some of the people doing it were very fanatical. I started small, writing a simple app that tracked how much caffeine I drank daily. I kept up with it for about 3 years, but eventually stopped as the data wasn’t meaningful or useful. (When I was younger, I did the same with a migraine journal after several months when it became obvious I didn’t have a food trigger.)
Last year I was chatting with some friends when one mentioned they had put the recipe for the dinner we all had up on MyFitnessPal. I had dabbled with it before, but it never stuck. Even still, I logged back in to start data entry anew, and have kept it up for nearly a year now. I’ve lost about 15 pounds doing so. The bug bit me and I was back on the QS bandwagon. I started doing testing, any legitimate one I could get my hands on. I took one to see if I was color blind (I’m not), I semi-regularly take the Cambridge Brain Sciences test, particularly if I’m having a great thinking day or am getting over a migraine. I’m considering getting a 23andMe genetic test to fill in gaps in my health history knowledge.
I’ve used the information I’ve found through these tools to make changes in my life, adjust to allow myself leeway in areas I know are difficult (like not eating pizza) and to make positive beneficial changes. As Socrates (and later comedian Demetri Martin) once said “An unexamined life is not worth living.”