I've been tracking everything about myself • Hacker News Board

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#61

Post by gsteinb88 » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:39 PM UTC

hunvreus wrote: post #48

k-mcgrady wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll give you one small example. I started using a sleep tracking app on my iPhone because I have bad onset insomnia and don't sleep well. After one weeks use I noticed that the nights I went for a short 20 min walk before bed I had a much better sleep score. I also fell asleep faster. Another thing I noticed was that I feel asleep faster if I didn't listen to music or podcasts. I've listened to them for years thinki…

IMHO, you don't need personalized data for this kind of stuff. More seriously, there's plenty of literature out there about these things; spend 5 minutes on Google and you'll find all of these recommendations. You'll know that exercising will help you sleep. You'll read as well that screens tend to disturb our sleeping patterns. These are becoming common sense and shouldn't require you to run you own little experimen…

Not at all to disagree, but just to clarify: drink less alcohol, drink lots more water. Minor dehydration is amazingly common and you'll be astounded how much better you feel if you force yourself to drink large amounts of water regularly.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#62

Post by ipince » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:45 PM UTC

tarere wrote: post #60

" great website" "fantastic" "fabulous"... ??!!! So nobody feel that tracking everything you do every second and log it in real time and forever on a server is terribly frightening ?!!!! In 2005 i predicted every one who ever logged on facebook would regret it one day and pay a huge price for it. This is more than real now. Still you don't stop, and now you're sending to "them" in realtime your heartbeats, your weigh…

Why is it so frightening?

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#63

Post by PStamatiou » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:46 PM UTC

Anand is my roommate. He's been doing this non-stop for the last 2-3 months (but thinking about it for the last 9), including while traveling internationally for the first month after he quit his job. The last month has been nightly design critiques after I got home from work :D

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#64

Post by ipince » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:47 PM UTC

Kind of random, but why is there so much time (entire days) spent in hotels when traveling? Is that due to Foursquare (or whatever) not allowing you to check-in to other places or did you really stay in the hotel the entire time? If so, doing what?

It's a genuine question--I basically NEVER stay in hotels beyond the required sleep time, so I'm curious as to how other people do things.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#65

Post by a8da6b0c91d » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:47 PM UTC

hunvreus wrote: post #48

k-mcgrady wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll give you one small example. I started using a sleep tracking app on my iPhone because I have bad onset insomnia and don't sleep well. After one weeks use I noticed that the nights I went for a short 20 min walk before bed I had a much better sleep score. I also fell asleep faster. Another thing I noticed was that I feel asleep faster if I didn't listen to music or podcasts. I've listened to them for years thinki…

IMHO, you don't need personalized data for this kind of stuff. More seriously, there's plenty of literature out there about these things; spend 5 minutes on Google and you'll find all of these recommendations. You'll know that exercising will help you sleep. You'll read as well that screens tend to disturb our sleeping patterns. These are becoming common sense and shouldn't require you to run you own little experimen…

I have got enormous value from tracking my resting heart rate and body temperature. Anything under 75 bpm or under 98F and I know I need to eat and sleep more and skip exercise. No need to log. I think a ton of folks would benefit.

Beyond those two metrics I can't think of anything it'd be useful to check regularly. Reflex time or achilles reflex test might be good.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#66

Post by afro88 » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:48 PM UTC

tarere wrote: post #60

" great website" "fantastic" "fabulous"... ??!!! So nobody feel that tracking everything you do every second and log it in real time and forever on a server is terribly frightening ?!!!! In 2005 i predicted every one who ever logged on facebook would regret it one day and pay a huge price for it. This is more than real now. Still you don't stop, and now you're sending to "them" in realtime your heartbeats, your weigh…

It's only frightening if it's not deliberate / you don't know it's happening.

This is beautiful, voluntary and insightful.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#67

Post by PStamatiou » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:51 PM UTC

ipince wrote: post #64

Kind of random, but why is there so much time (entire days) spent in hotels when traveling? Is that due to Foursquare (or whatever) not allowing you to check-in to other places or did you really stay in the hotel the entire time? If so, doing what? It's a genuine question--I basically NEVER stay in hotels beyond the required sleep time, so I'm curious as to how other people do things.

He spent a lot of time traveling while building this site. :) The first ~1.5 months were spent abroad.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#68

Post by a8da6b0c91d » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:52 PM UTC

gsteinb88 wrote: post #61

hunvreus wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO, you don't need personalized data for this kind of stuff. More seriously, there's plenty of literature out there about these things; spend 5 minutes on Google and you'll find all of these recommendations. You'll know that exercising will help you sleep. You'll read as well that screens tend to disturb our sleeping patterns. These are becoming common sense and shouldn't require you to run you own little experimen…

Not at all to disagree, but just to clarify: drink less alcohol, drink lots more water. Minor dehydration is amazingly common and you'll be astounded how much better you feel if you force yourself to drink large amounts of water regularly.

There is zero evidence supporting the idea that drinking water beyond thirst is helpful. If anything people tend to have slight electrolyte deficiency, which is exacerbated by fluid over-consumption.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#69

Post by rflrob » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:54 PM UTC

afro88 wrote: post #66

tarere wrote: post #60

" great website" "fantastic" "fabulous"... ??!!! So nobody feel that tracking everything you do every second and log it in real time and forever on a server is terribly frightening ?!!!! In 2005 i predicted every one who ever logged on facebook would regret it one day and pay a huge price for it. This is more than real now. Still you don't stop, and now you're sending to "them" in realtime your heartbeats, your weigh…

It's only frightening if it's not deliberate / you don't know it's happening. This is beautiful, voluntary and insightful.

It's also frightening if it becomes so mainstream that you become a pariah by not doing it.

Dave Eggers novel _The Circle_ looks at this, and while I felt it was hyperbolic and more than a little preachy, it's certainly worth thinking about.

Re: I've been tracking everything about myself

#70

Post by tarere » Sat, Jul 12, 2014, 5:54 PM UTC

afro88 wrote: post #66

tarere wrote: post #60

" great website" "fantastic" "fabulous"... ??!!! So nobody feel that tracking everything you do every second and log it in real time and forever on a server is terribly frightening ?!!!! In 2005 i predicted every one who ever logged on facebook would regret it one day and pay a huge price for it. This is more than real now. Still you don't stop, and now you're sending to "them" in realtime your heartbeats, your weigh…

It's only frightening if it's not deliberate / you don't know it's happening. This is beautiful, voluntary and insightful.

"It's only frightening if it's not deliberate / you don't know it's happening."

Oh my god, how old are you all ? Are you the next generation of this world ? Don't you just understand you behave like products and not human !? This is possibly the end of the world.