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Ben Halpern
Ben Halpern Subscriber

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Do you track any personal health data? If so, what and how?

I'm curious about any "standard" data you track with a watch or smart scale, etc., but also anybody who does anything "above and beyond" in this regard.

Also — what do you do with the data? Which services do you use for aggregation and visualization, or do you work with any of the data directly as a programmer?

Oldest comments (23)

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sherrydays profile image
Sherry Day

I've begun sleeping with my Apple Watch on, and use a combo of the default Health app, as well as Autosleep (which is neat, but I'd also be fine with just the health app).

I'm curious about other Apple health visualization apps people are using beyond just the Health app.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I use FitnessView for good widgets, but am also curious about other apps I don't know about.

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jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Edited

The better question is WHY?

A data tracker is just a tool.
A tool for what?

If you don't know why you are using a tool,
the tool isn't auto-magically valuable by the virtue of it being new.

For example sleep is super important for me because I used to have insomnia during 72 consecutive hours. Which sucks indeed.

Do I need an IoT health tracker storing things on the blockchain to recognize that it's a problem and reflect on what's going on exactly?

No, writing words on pen and paper worked just fine.

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besworks profile image
Besworks

body check engine

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subhamx profile image
Subham Sahu

💔

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jess profile image
Jess Lee

I don't currently but just ordered the pixel watch and plan to start doing some minimal tracking to help me lead a healthier lifestyle.

However, I've been getting targeted by nutrition apps that track your glucose levels? Curious if anyone has done that sort of thing. The idea of physically attaching a device to my body freaks me out, plus all the additional data these companies would have. Here's an example of what I'm talking about: veri.co/

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Jan Küster 🔥

Classic analog weight scale still does the job 😅

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theaccordance profile image
Joe Mainwaring • Edited

You want Above and Beyond? I got it for ya. Here's a list of the health data I currently have in my possession:

  • Workouts (~ 900 in 8 years)
  • Heart rate
  • Steps
  • VO2 Max
  • Standing Hours
  • Weight
  • List of all my appointments and surgeries (~ 60 in the last 2 years)
  • List & usage history of my Medications
  • Rounds of Chemotherapy (33 and counting!)
  • The amount of blood that's been drawn from my body (damn you Elizabeth Holmes and your failed dream)
  • Urinalysis Labs every 2 weeks (Gravity & PH of my pee)
  • CBC with differential Labs every two weeks: WBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RWD, PLT, MPV, Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Eosinophils, Basophils, Absolute Lymphocytes, Absolute Monocytes, Absolute Eosinophils, Absolute Basophils, RBC, HGB, HCT, Immature Granulocytes, Absolute Neutrophils, Absolute Immature Granulocytes, Differential Type
  • Comprehensive Metabolic Panel Labs every two weeks: Creatine, ALT, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, CO2, Anion Gap, Blood Urea Nitrogen, eGFRcr, Calcium, Glucose, Protein, Albumin, Alkaline Phosphatase, AST, Bilirubin, Magnesium, Phosphorus,
  • 20+ CT Scans (reports, I don't have access to the images)
  • MRI and X-Ray Scan reports (only a couple of these)
  • Various ad-hoc labs over the last 2 years (ex: Vitamin D levels)
  • A genetic report which links my genome to cancer studies (Fun fact: My close friend & business partner created this product for Tempus)
  • Labs which track the amount of cancer cells floating around in my bloodstream (~ 4 times a year)
  • Immunizations (since 2021)
  • How many medical marijuana joints I've smoked since being diagnosed with Cancer (~ 700, a joint a day keeps the cancer at bay 🙃)
  • And last but certainly not least: All of my insurance claims since 1/1/2020 ($1.5 million billed ☠️)

Clearly, that's an extraordinary amount of health data, and as the list eludes to, I was Diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer last year - a very serious diagnosis with only a 14% survival rate after 5 years. Thankfully, I have responded well to my treatment plan and I can confidently say that today, the risk to my life is very small. I'm also a participant in a clinical study, which is partly why that list is so... long.

Now as far as what I do with all this data?

  • Practically speaking, I use the clinical data to have conversations with my care team (Oncologists, Physicians Assistants, Surgeons, and my GP). Having this volume of data enables trend analysis, which is very important when you're dealing with chronic diseases like cancer.
  • From a developer perspective, I use the data to prove concepts in my sandbox. Having 1M+ records of factual data provides a lot of opportunities to present that data in useful ways. I've been using Chartbrew to build out a report which I will eventually share publicly.

As a final word, I'll share one insight that I've learned through my health experiences these last few years: Cancer in our society is trending in earlier and earlier age groups. I encourage everyone to seek those screenings earlier than you might otherwise consider.

giphy

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glenn_miller_860ba12ffbf7 profile image
Glenn A Miller

Sorry for your troubles, though I'm glad you have the tools to track it.

My medical providers all have online portals I can use to keep track of things. It was a godsend during my treatment of lung cancer the last three years. Every result is an URL away. I also check my health numbers from my Apple Watch and smart Withings scale.

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theaccordance profile image
Joe Mainwaring

OMG yes, having electronic access to your records is such a game changer, things would have been considerably more cumbersome and time consuming had this disease surfaced 10 years earlier.

Now we just need a solution which actually stores your electronic records. As I discovered with Apple's Healthkit, the clinical records are only pointers to a secured server.

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Dennis Persson

I have four year of data in Daylio app. Have been tracking each day but it varies what I am tracking so it's just a few records I have four year of data for.

They have added som summaries for you, to compare a month to previous month, correlating activities to moods and so on. They also have so you can set up goals and stuff.

Quite good app. What I do miss is the ability to design custom advanced queries for the data. There's an option for exporting the data though, so it should be possible to analyze it on your own.

No idea what's in the free plan. Have had premium all the time.

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Karl Castillo

I only track my workouts. I use Strong for my tracking. It provides some nice visualizations -- eg. approximate max weight based on your lift, total volume. These visualizations are for individual exercises so you can setup your dashboard with the lifts that are important to you.

I use the data I gather to plan out my next workout cycle and to make sure my volume-frequency-intensity ratio are good since you can't be high in all three.

I don't keep track of what I eat but I do keep track of my weight once every 2 weeks out of curiosity.

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Facundo Corradini

Only muscle mass and body fat %, and my scale does the tracking for me. Super proud of those numbers btw, I've finally managed to find a sustainable diet and routine that really works for me

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The Vedic Developer

I just track my weight, although I slim and trim 😎. But since I am living my grandmother, so when I check her, I check mine as well.