With n-number of self-tracking apps & wearables out there collecting data has become really simple. Today, the challenge many lifeloggers have been facing is making meaning of all the data. In the past few weeks my tracked data helped associate my tracked data to my health problems.

There are so many interpretations we can make from data, like we read earlier how data from smart phone sensors can help detect depression. I have been studying my data with Instant from the past year. In the past two weeks my movement data was particularly interesting to pin-point the cause for my health issues.

I fell ill a few weeks back on the weekend with a bad fever. My stationary and walking graph made it clear on how it affected my activities, since I was on my bed for the majority of the day. It is interesting to see how data can correlate with your health directly.

Driving correlating to my back sprain

I have been having painful back aches recently, when I went to the spine specialist, it was easy for him to see my driving durations and understand how strain on my back was affecting it. On days I drove more, my back was worse. By taking a look at my data, he was able to recommend me a better driving posture, lumbar support and exercises to strengthen my lower back. My activity data also helped my physiotherapist recommend me stretches and tips to improve my posture.

Quantified Self data for your doc

Thinking about how medical professionals can use data to understand the patient better:

1 Doctors can understand a patients physical activity levels & their average day better through their life-logged data

2 Even psychologists can make meaning out of their patients mental health based on their digital and physical world activities

3 Sports professionals can benefit directly in performance by tracking their activities on the field and having their trainers understand the data

Overall doctors can integrate Quantified Self data in their treatment plans to help understand the patients problems and track their progress. Depending on the problem, the data can make it clearer for doctors to diagnose and get treatment feedback too.

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