The Quantified Self

I've read some articles lately on the notion of the Quantified Self -- self-knowledge through statistics. I previously found such concepts useful in limited ways, like tracking my calories and my run distances and times. I've decided to crank this up a bit.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/meet-the-urban-datasexual

http://quantifiedself.com/

I recently purchased a Fitbit Ultra which will track my daily activities and sleep patterns. The fitbit mobile app and website provides a nice dashboard view and allows me to set goals. The system also integrates nicely with other apps like Runkeeper (my preferred mobile GPS app for tracking my runs) and MyFitnessPal (my preferred mobile app for tracking weight and food).

I tried out the Fitbit's sleep tracking for the first time last night. The small device clips to a comfortable wrist band and tracks movements during the night. It shows sleep / activity patterns on a bar chart and calculates actual sleep time and sleep efficiency. While I am normally a light, restless sleeper, I slept like a log last night. This was reflected in my fitbit results of 98% sleep efficiency. I suspect this might have been the result of having no caffeine all afternoon or evening. It will be interesting to measure this over time and attempt to determine root cause for my frequent restless nights -- one of the reasons I find such data collection both fascinating and useful.

I'll post more as I integrate the Fitbit into my daily routine, sync it with my other lifestyle apps, and find ways to make use of the resulting data.