Comments on: How We Measure Health

By: raydantes

raydantes — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:54:43 +0000

It would be great if the Iphone (or all cell phones, for that matter) had a built-in pedometer so we could keep track of our activity without us having to record it manually.

By: Alexandra Carmichael : The New Rise of Online Health Tracking

Alexandra Carmichael : The New Rise of Online Health Tracking — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:53:38 +0000

[...] asked by the media too. Thomas Goetz, deputy editor of Wired Magazine, writes about it in his blog The Decision Tree. Jamin Brophy-Warren recently wrote about the phenomenon of personal data collection in the Wall [...]

By: Lifeboat News: The Blog » The New Rise of Online Health Tracking

Lifeboat News: The Blog » The New Rise of Online Health Tracking — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:52:16 +0000

By: rcraig40

rcraig40 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:15:06 +0000

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Other measurements that I track:

Caffeine intake

Water intake

Exercise Intensity – I wear a heart rate monitor

* Length

* Max heart rate

* Average heart rate

* Calculated calories
burned

I have a mood category similar to Alexandra’s – I made more masculine

1 – 5 scale for the following:

* Stress to Calm

* Sad to Happy

* Unsure to Confident

I have a physical category

1 – 5 scale for the following:

* Tired to Energized

* Achy to Strong

* Stuffy to Clear

I would do something with digestive but have an iron clad
stomach and don’t think I’d ever see any difference.

I keep count of the number of bowel movements I have. I would like to have a qualitative
measurement but don’t know what to measure (size, color, consistency,
smell???).

Great wishes on your quest.

Rick

By: vimota

vimota — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:15:08 +0000

For Women, it’d be useful to track the distance from the next period, to compare to mood, eating, etc.In Mood, your calmness/relax should be involved and the amount of sleep as well.

By: tgoetz

tgoetz — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:04:41 +0000

test

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:38:21 +0000

Hi Thomas, What a great topic, and congratulations on your book-in-progress!
I recently posted the 40 things I track on the Quantified Self blog. Many of my measurements fall into your list already, but here are my additions:

Biometrics:
Temperature
Blood hormone levels
Bone density scan
EKG
Mammogram
Allergy test

Relative Stats:
Pain measures (type, location, duration, level, time of onset – for chronic pain conditions, headaches, etc)
Sex (quantity, quality) – for men, quantity of sex is optimal for health; for women, quality matters more
Symptoms (itch, fatigue, nausea, etc)
Stress level

External factors/inputs:
Food eaten (for discovering intolerances, managing diabetes/chron’s, etc)Supplements taken (for monitoring drug reactions and responses)

These are measures relevant to me as an “ordinary citizen.” Hope this helps!
Alexandra Carmichael
Co-founder, CureTogether