intra

Intra was a series of quantified self projects.

The project began after I started time-tracking when I noticed patterns in creative output and wondered what factors had an impact on those, so I tracked things like what I ate, how much sleep I had, and even daily weather conditions.

Since then I’ve just been collecting data. Over time, I hope to have enough to see patterns emerge and maybe even forecast future creative output given these factors.

The goal is to turn data into information,
and information into insight.
— Carly Fiorina

Update: I stopped tracking these metrics in 2025.

system

a black rectangle with many rows of white dots — timeline

Tracking was done manually, aided by scripts, and data was stored in plaintext. I created small tools for things like summary statistics and data visualisation.

datasets
dataset	metric	type
drink	rating	ordinal, 1–5 scale
	amount	numerical, milliliters as base unit
	type	description of drink
food	rating	ordinal, 1–5 scale
food	type	description, a list of consumed food items
mood	rating	ordinal, 1–5 scale (💀 🙁 😐 🙂 😀)
mood	amount	numerical, milliliters as base unit
sleep	rating	ordinal, 1–5 scale
sleep	span	date range, estimated start and end of sleep session
medical	event	description, ailment
energy	rating	ordinal, 1–5 scale
morale	rating	ordinal, 1–5 scale

eau

I tracked what I drink. Each entry consisted of a timestamp, a 1–5 scale of how much I liked that drink, the amount (in mL), and what it was. From these, I can gauge things like hydration levels and caffeine intake.

format
timestamp	rating	amount	drink
2020-10-01T19:00:00Z	4	500	tea

food

I tracked what I eat. Initially I included calorie counts, nutritional information, servings/weight, but that got really tedious. Eventually I just stuck to listing food ratings and the food items and/or ingredients.

Apps like Samsung Health lets you track all of the aforementioned but their database is somewhat incomplete or even inaccurate at times. There are no fields for B-vitamins, for example. I find myself often creating custom food items and manually keying in nutritional info based on what’s listed on the package. Another thing I noticed is that countries have different recommended daily intakes and thus list different vitamins and nutrients. Ultimately, it’s not worth the trouble.

format
timestamp	rating	food
2020-10-01T19:00:00Z	4	arugula salad, açaí bowl

med

I tracked instances of illnesses and any other health-related events. This data let me see things like my recovery rate from a bout of bronchitis via the amount of coughs, and patterns in seasonal allergies via sneezes. Cross-referenced with other datasets, I could also see if certain things make me sick.

format
timestamp	event
2020-10-01T19:00:00Z	nausea

mood

I tracked mood with a 1–5 scale:

💀 🙁 😐 🙂 😀

somnus

red and white dots scattered along a circle — Somnus

I tracked sleep — duration and an integer value on a 1–5 scale gauging sleep quality.

format
sleep	wake	rating
2020-01-01T00:00	2020-01-02T06:00	3

else

Other things I tracked at some point:

what I wore every day (stopped)
lapses in memory, moments of serendipity, moments of déjà vu
dreams — I still track these but rarely as the amount of detail I can remember upon waking is linked to sleep duration and quality; some of my art are based on dream elements
workouts, cycling_*, walks, jogs, etc. tracked by Samsung Health
morale and energy levels (both as 1–5 scales), which are a recent addition to the mood logs to add some dimensionality
personal finances
media consumption, everything from articles and books read, games played, podcasts and music listened to, films watched
an inventory of things I own
memories and notable events through journaling and photography