Wearable sensors and mobile apps are THE talk of the town, unleashing a wealth of personal data that enables tracking of and managing various aspects of our health. These tools collect, process and display a plethora of personal details related to our everyday activity, right from counting steps or miles walked, and floors climbed, to monitoring calorie consumption, and even daily patterns and hours of sleep.
How to make self-tracking work
Choosing a poorly designed monitoring tool might have adverse effect on our health. If not careful, we may end up spending money on gadgets that are nothing but a pile of useless, rarely used equipment. Try these for getting on the right track with self-monitoring:
1. Set realistic, achievable goals. Take one step at a time .With regular reviews and small increments, the changes made to your lifestyle will be gradual and more long-lasting.
2. Get used to the idea of self-monitoring. Start with something that is not a rocket science to track, that is fun to do, & easy to interpret .For starters, you could opt for pedometer or blood pressure monitor.
3. Probe yourself. Sneak peek into how your life has changed, how you feel, what benefits you have obtained by achieving the goals. Review whether the change is for the good & if others have noticed the changes.
4. Rejoice your achievements. Instant feedback and reaching a set goal could be a great motivator. Celebrate & treat yourself well when you see a difference .Don't be stressed out if you don't reach the target. Review the reasons, reset the goal and try again.
5. Be ready to experiment. Try new versatile things to discover your limits, what you can change and to gain insight about what works for you.
6. Focus on the measures that would make big difference to your life. Let your health priorities guide you when moving from one challenge to another. Do not get misguided by marketing of new gadgets.
7. Identify patterns. As you gain more experience with self-monitoring, try looking at correlations between measures.
8. Pick the right device. There are lots of devices out there, and it is not easy to tell the good ones from the bad ones. Read user reviews and consult an expert to help you choose a quality device and how to use the data meaningfully.
An app a day can keep the doctor away!
An increasing number of people are using these gadgets to monitor exactly how they use their time, and take action, not only in order to improve health and personal efficiency but also to use time wisely.
Optimize your life to free up more time & enjoy more activities.