Hack yourself: measuring well-being

The report provides details on the Hot Topics event on Quantified Self.

The report provides details on the Hot Topics event on Quantified Self.

Key findings:

  • Just as it’s possible to piece together a picture of someone from their supermarket purchases, credit card activity or Internet traffic, so too can this kind of self-tracking, personal informatics or self-hacking as it is also known, reveal a lot about a person.

  • By mining this data and finding correlations within our daily patterns, sufferers of depression, asthma, insomnia and many other complaints, as well as those curious enough to delve deep into their daily behaviour, have found ways to improve their lives. 

The summary provides details on the Hot Topics event on Quantified Self. A grassroots movement made up of an eclectic mix of technology evangelists, fitness fanatics and hackers with a healthy curiosity about their lives, their aim is simple - to improve their quality of life.

By measuring and keeping a log of their daily diet, mood, how much alcohol they consume, sleep cycles, exercise and pretty much any personal metric relating to their physical or mental health, they hope to find ways to improve their well-being.

Author:
Nesta