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time_out-aug2013

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Matthew Hussey

This document summarizes the Quantified Self movement, where people monitor and analyze various personal data metrics. It describes how the author tracked their own daily activities, calories consumed, sleep, etc. using various apps and devices over one month. The author attends meetings for the London Quantified Self group and hears presentations on using data to train the brain or understand sociology. While self-tracking could provide health benefits, the author loses interest in continuously recording data after a few months. However, genetic testing indicates the author is biologically 2.9 years younger than thought. In conclusion, self-quantification may become more mainstream as a way to better understand personal health patterns.

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eanLondon has become a hotbed for the Quantified Selfmovement- afad for monitoring and analysing everytiny aspect ofyour personal physical and mental condition assisted by a raft of gadgets, apps and experts. Matt Husseygoes in search ofthe capital's data fiends n the past 24 hours, 1have sent 96 emails and received 135. 1have eaten 2,647 calories, exercised for precisely one hour and six minutes, and sleptfor seven hours and 15 minutes. 1have drunk 2.61itres of water and 1.31itres ofbeer, and maintained an average heart rate of 58 beats per minute. Because ofthe 1.31itres of beer, my sleep has been more fitful than normal and 1drank 26 percent more caffeine the following day than 1usually do. Think that's more detail than you need to know? fhen you're nota datajunky-one ofthe growing band of Londoners dedicated to collatingtheir calorie intake, heart rate, hours of sleep, mood changes, the state oftheircells... in fact, everythingtheydo and consume. Butyou might be soon. Thanks to the gizmos we surround ourselves with, we're all creating more personal data than ever before, and have more ways of analysing it. British marketingfirm ABI estimates that bythe year 2018, 485 miIlion wearable computing devices will be used worldwide. That's notto mention the deluge of smartphone apps that allow us to track sleep patterns, heart rate, diet and more. This is the age ofthe Quantified Self. The QS movement has been powered by a mix of fitness freaks, technology evangelists, hackers and medical patients, many ofthem from the home ofthe fad, California. Some are running cultural experiments. Californian Chloe Fan has digitised every movie ticket she has bought since 2001, creating a picture of herfilmgoing patterns, by day ofweek, time ofday, IMDB rating, price, location and who she was with. Personal development writerTim Ferriss tracks his brainwaves while sleeping and constantly monitors his insulin levels. Quantifying has even reached the bedroom: Spreadsheets is an app that monitors total number ofthrusts, duration and decibel peaks during sex. But is there such a thing as too mueh information, and what happens when we put our every movement underthe microscope? To find out, 1arm myselfwith an arsenal of apps and wearable tech- including an Autographer: a camera that clips to the shirt and randomly takes photos and collects data on where the picture was taken. Then 1embark on a month-long course of self-quantifyingto find out. MATT'S ~ HEALTHY SaladS! 19 111111111111111111 1 UNHEADHY MONTHLY fOOD Veg portlons: 7 //l/1/1/lll/l/llll/ll/ll/l///1 fOOD STATS Frult: 29 ••••••••••••••••••• Read more reviews and listings and book tickets at tlmeout.com/london 17
Atthe office, 1begin theworkingday inputting data into Mappiness, a happiness mapping app from the London School of Economics, part of a project aimingto learn more about where, when and why people feel their best. Simultaneously Cardiio, a heart- rate monitorthat measures how light refracts offyourface, prompts meto record today's reading. Forthe first week, 1enjoythe attention the various apps are paying me, but 1 also realise that instead ofspeakingto people, l'm staring intently at my iPhone tryingto tell itwhat l'm doingatthat precise moment. Also, some ofmy neighbours are freaked out when they are auto-papped by my shirt camera. Despite these drawbacks, could QS have real health benefits? 1sign upforthe London Quantified Self Meetup Group, which has more than 1,200 members, to see how London's hardcore life-loggers are spendingtheirtime. They meet at the Wayra Academy, an incubatorfor tech start-upsjustoffTottenham Court Road, which seems an appropriate place for people to get excited over data. The group is run by Adriana Lukas, a 30-year-old Oxford-educated researcher. 'We had 30 people in the early days,' says Lukas, 'and 1always arranged them in a circle for conversations.' There are now more than 100 attendees, eagerto either show off their personal hackingskills orfind out how other people are getting on. At my first session, there are three talks: one from aman who is examiningways oftrainingthe brain with data; a PhD student lookingto understand the sociology behind the Quantified Self movement; and a MATT'S HAPPINESS MATRIX ····--···-----·-··-···--..·-..--··-···-··-···- ..--1···- ..-···-·-·-··"·,_,-·~··-··-·-..··-·-~-·-·-·.......- ...,_..___..____,._~- Stay late atoffice working on important document •Rght hangover with cheeseburger and cola combo •Readbook tortwo hours on sota •Pourglassot wine and return to sota and book •Consume •Eatentire roast chicken. Notsurehow that happened •Accidentally delete important document •Considerevening protein shake. Decide against it seven units ot alcohol- quickly Go tor whole day without visiting gym orgoing tor run •Breaktast on porridge and pumpkin seeds •Drinkcupot green tea. No biscuits •Rght hangoverwith body squats and lateral pull-downs combo •Drink cup oftea with two biscuits (digestive) •Achieve eighthours otunbroken sleep •Consume seven units otalcohol- slowly •Complete 7,000 metres on rowing machine Soak tor halt an hour in a hotbath S rSpend time with tamily(myown) former neurosurgeon who manages depression by tracking her moods. This last possibility is the one that reallyexcites me.lmproving our health by better understandingthe data our bodies create But willl be around to see thefuture? Can this measurement stuff actually predict my lifespan? 1 contact Life Length, a Spanish biotech company, for a test to measure a small component in my out ofthe bonnet before seeing a mechanic. At thE moment, medicineis focused on waitingtill you're sick. But that's changing, thanks to data.' Clearly, self-measuring could have big health benefits. Forme, however, the act of aimlessly recording information on calories, emails and trip~ to the toilet rrieant llost interest as the weeks wer by. Some days l'd forgetto inputwhat l'd eaten or turn my sleeping app on at night. 'People tend to lose interest in the process of recording data after around three months,' says Lukas. 'lfthere's no purpose to the data, it'sjust data for data's sake.' is somethingthat Larry Smarr(yup, he's Californian), doyen ofself- quantifying, is evangelical about. When Smarrworks out, an armband records skin temperature, heat flux, galvanic skin response and acceleration in three · dimensions. At night, a headband monitors the pattern ofhis sleep every 30 seconds. He has his blood analysed eight times ayear, tracking 100 separate signs oftrouble. He sends his own poo to the lab nine times ayear. Of course it's tempting to see such behaviour as a little obsessive, but Kenneth Cukier, the ''Oneapp monitors thrusts, duration anddecibel peaks duringsex chromosomes that helps the celis function properly. These readings should give a deep-level indication of the shape my body is in. The test is scheduled for mythirtieth birthday; cue thoughts of impending middle age, hair loss and falling asleep before 10pm in front ofthe TV. Ata private clinic in Harley Street, two nurses extract blood to be sent offto a lab in Madrid for analysis. 'lt's nota diagnosis but an indicator ofprobability,' explains Steve Matlin, CEO of Life Length. The test, which was developed byfive Nobel authorof 'Big Data', says: 'lt's nota bunch of weirdos. Today, we call it Quantified Self. Tomorrowwearegoing tocall ithealthcare.lnthe future, quantifying ourselves is goingto be done not by sorne people but by all people.' Prize winners, is part ofthe next generation of health care, helping us maintain our bodies ratherthan wait forthings to go wrong. 'Youtake your car in for a service every 20,000 miles to check for problems,' explains Smarr. 'Whatyou don'tdo is waitfor smoketo be pouring Still, my analysis didteach me somethings 1 didn't know: l'm háppieston Wednesdays, after 10pm and with friends. My heart rate is higher at work than at home, and for every hour less in bed 1spend, 1drinktwice as much coffee and eat 700 extra calories a day. But best is the calll take from Steve Matlin when mytest results come back. 'Yourbiological age,' Matlin announces, 'is a healthy 27.1 years.' Thanks to Quantified Self, l'm 2.9 years youngerthan 1thought 1was. For more info on the London Quantified Self Meetup Groupsee www.meetup.com/londonQS MONTHfvllll.. ALCOHOLIC G!asseaofwlne:9 1 ~ Numberone .... Numbertwo Fourtlmes aday (sober) . . Three times aday (sober) sms,.. DRINKS Pmts:16 Double whlskles, neat: 6 18 Read more reviews and listings and book tickets at timeout.comj london sixtimesaday(ifalcohol a A twotlmesa day(lfalcohol is drunkthe nightbefore) . . . . ls drunk the ni¡¡,ht before)

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time_out-aug2013

  • 1. eanLondon has become a hotbed for the Quantified Selfmovement- afad for monitoring and analysing everytiny aspect ofyour personal physical and mental condition assisted by a raft of gadgets, apps and experts. Matt Husseygoes in search ofthe capital's data fiends n the past 24 hours, 1have sent 96 emails and received 135. 1have eaten 2,647 calories, exercised for precisely one hour and six minutes, and sleptfor seven hours and 15 minutes. 1have drunk 2.61itres of water and 1.31itres ofbeer, and maintained an average heart rate of 58 beats per minute. Because ofthe 1.31itres of beer, my sleep has been more fitful than normal and 1drank 26 percent more caffeine the following day than 1usually do. Think that's more detail than you need to know? fhen you're nota datajunky-one ofthe growing band of Londoners dedicated to collatingtheir calorie intake, heart rate, hours of sleep, mood changes, the state oftheircells... in fact, everythingtheydo and consume. Butyou might be soon. Thanks to the gizmos we surround ourselves with, we're all creating more personal data than ever before, and have more ways of analysing it. British marketingfirm ABI estimates that bythe year 2018, 485 miIlion wearable computing devices will be used worldwide. That's notto mention the deluge of smartphone apps that allow us to track sleep patterns, heart rate, diet and more. This is the age ofthe Quantified Self. The QS movement has been powered by a mix of fitness freaks, technology evangelists, hackers and medical patients, many ofthem from the home ofthe fad, California. Some are running cultural experiments. Californian Chloe Fan has digitised every movie ticket she has bought since 2001, creating a picture of herfilmgoing patterns, by day ofweek, time ofday, IMDB rating, price, location and who she was with. Personal development writerTim Ferriss tracks his brainwaves while sleeping and constantly monitors his insulin levels. Quantifying has even reached the bedroom: Spreadsheets is an app that monitors total number ofthrusts, duration and decibel peaks during sex. But is there such a thing as too mueh information, and what happens when we put our every movement underthe microscope? To find out, 1arm myselfwith an arsenal of apps and wearable tech- including an Autographer: a camera that clips to the shirt and randomly takes photos and collects data on where the picture was taken. Then 1embark on a month-long course of self-quantifyingto find out. MATT'S ~ HEALTHY SaladS! 19 111111111111111111 1 UNHEADHY MONTHLY fOOD Veg portlons: 7 //l/1/1/lll/l/llll/ll/ll/l///1 fOOD STATS Frult: 29 ••••••••••••••••••• Read more reviews and listings and book tickets at tlmeout.com/london 17
  • 2. Atthe office, 1begin theworkingday inputting data into Mappiness, a happiness mapping app from the London School of Economics, part of a project aimingto learn more about where, when and why people feel their best. Simultaneously Cardiio, a heart- rate monitorthat measures how light refracts offyourface, prompts meto record today's reading. Forthe first week, 1enjoythe attention the various apps are paying me, but 1 also realise that instead ofspeakingto people, l'm staring intently at my iPhone tryingto tell itwhat l'm doingatthat precise moment. Also, some ofmy neighbours are freaked out when they are auto-papped by my shirt camera. Despite these drawbacks, could QS have real health benefits? 1sign upforthe London Quantified Self Meetup Group, which has more than 1,200 members, to see how London's hardcore life-loggers are spendingtheirtime. They meet at the Wayra Academy, an incubatorfor tech start-upsjustoffTottenham Court Road, which seems an appropriate place for people to get excited over data. The group is run by Adriana Lukas, a 30-year-old Oxford-educated researcher. 'We had 30 people in the early days,' says Lukas, 'and 1always arranged them in a circle for conversations.' There are now more than 100 attendees, eagerto either show off their personal hackingskills orfind out how other people are getting on. At my first session, there are three talks: one from aman who is examiningways oftrainingthe brain with data; a PhD student lookingto understand the sociology behind the Quantified Self movement; and a MATT'S HAPPINESS MATRIX ····--···-----·-··-···--..·-..--··-···-··-···- ..--1···- ..-···-·-·-··"·,_,-·~··-··-·-..··-·-~-·-·-·.......- ...,_..___..____,._~- Stay late atoffice working on important document •Rght hangover with cheeseburger and cola combo •Readbook tortwo hours on sota •Pourglassot wine and return to sota and book •Consume •Eatentire roast chicken. Notsurehow that happened •Accidentally delete important document •Considerevening protein shake. Decide against it seven units ot alcohol- quickly Go tor whole day without visiting gym orgoing tor run •Breaktast on porridge and pumpkin seeds •Drinkcupot green tea. No biscuits •Rght hangoverwith body squats and lateral pull-downs combo •Drink cup oftea with two biscuits (digestive) •Achieve eighthours otunbroken sleep •Consume seven units otalcohol- slowly •Complete 7,000 metres on rowing machine Soak tor halt an hour in a hotbath S rSpend time with tamily(myown) former neurosurgeon who manages depression by tracking her moods. This last possibility is the one that reallyexcites me.lmproving our health by better understandingthe data our bodies create But willl be around to see thefuture? Can this measurement stuff actually predict my lifespan? 1 contact Life Length, a Spanish biotech company, for a test to measure a small component in my out ofthe bonnet before seeing a mechanic. At thE moment, medicineis focused on waitingtill you're sick. But that's changing, thanks to data.' Clearly, self-measuring could have big health benefits. Forme, however, the act of aimlessly recording information on calories, emails and trip~ to the toilet rrieant llost interest as the weeks wer by. Some days l'd forgetto inputwhat l'd eaten or turn my sleeping app on at night. 'People tend to lose interest in the process of recording data after around three months,' says Lukas. 'lfthere's no purpose to the data, it'sjust data for data's sake.' is somethingthat Larry Smarr(yup, he's Californian), doyen ofself- quantifying, is evangelical about. When Smarrworks out, an armband records skin temperature, heat flux, galvanic skin response and acceleration in three · dimensions. At night, a headband monitors the pattern ofhis sleep every 30 seconds. He has his blood analysed eight times ayear, tracking 100 separate signs oftrouble. He sends his own poo to the lab nine times ayear. Of course it's tempting to see such behaviour as a little obsessive, but Kenneth Cukier, the ''Oneapp monitors thrusts, duration anddecibel peaks duringsex chromosomes that helps the celis function properly. These readings should give a deep-level indication of the shape my body is in. The test is scheduled for mythirtieth birthday; cue thoughts of impending middle age, hair loss and falling asleep before 10pm in front ofthe TV. Ata private clinic in Harley Street, two nurses extract blood to be sent offto a lab in Madrid for analysis. 'lt's nota diagnosis but an indicator ofprobability,' explains Steve Matlin, CEO of Life Length. The test, which was developed byfive Nobel authorof 'Big Data', says: 'lt's nota bunch of weirdos. Today, we call it Quantified Self. Tomorrowwearegoing tocall ithealthcare.lnthe future, quantifying ourselves is goingto be done not by sorne people but by all people.' Prize winners, is part ofthe next generation of health care, helping us maintain our bodies ratherthan wait forthings to go wrong. 'Youtake your car in for a service every 20,000 miles to check for problems,' explains Smarr. 'Whatyou don'tdo is waitfor smoketo be pouring Still, my analysis didteach me somethings 1 didn't know: l'm háppieston Wednesdays, after 10pm and with friends. My heart rate is higher at work than at home, and for every hour less in bed 1spend, 1drinktwice as much coffee and eat 700 extra calories a day. But best is the calll take from Steve Matlin when mytest results come back. 'Yourbiological age,' Matlin announces, 'is a healthy 27.1 years.' Thanks to Quantified Self, l'm 2.9 years youngerthan 1thought 1was. For more info on the London Quantified Self Meetup Groupsee www.meetup.com/londonQS MONTHfvllll.. ALCOHOLIC G!asseaofwlne:9 1 ~ Numberone .... Numbertwo Fourtlmes aday (sober) . . Three times aday (sober) sms,.. DRINKS Pmts:16 Double whlskles, neat: 6 18 Read more reviews and listings and book tickets at timeout.comj london sixtimesaday(ifalcohol a A twotlmesa day(lfalcohol is drunkthe nightbefore) . . . . ls drunk the ni¡¡,ht before)