intra
Intra is a series of quantified self projects.
why
The Intra project began after I started time-tracking. I noticed patterns in creative output and wondered what factors had an impact on those, so I started tracking things like what I ate, how much sleep I had, and even daily weather conditions.
The goal is to turn data into information,
and information into insight.—
Carly Fiorina
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.
system
Tracking is done manually, aided by shell scripts, and data is stored in plaintext. I also created small tools for things like summary statistics and data visualisation. More details will be added later.
| 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 |
| type | description, a list of consumed food items | |
| mood | rating | ordinal, 1–5 scale (💀 🙁 😐 🙂 😀) |
| amount | numerical, milliliters as base unit | |
| sleep | rating | ordinal, 1–5 scale |
| 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 track what I drink. Each entry consists 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.
| timestamp | rating | amount | drink |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 500 | tea |
food
I track 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.
| timestamp | rating | food |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | arugula salad, açaí bowl |
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.
med
I track instances of illnesses and any other health-related events. This data lets 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 can also see if certain things make me sick.
| timestamp | event |
|---|---|
| nausea |
mood
I track mood with a 1–5 scale:
💀 🙁 😐 🙂 😀somnus
I track sleep—duration and an integer value on a 1–5 scale gauging sleep quality.
| sleep | wake | rating |
|---|---|---|
| 3 |
else
Other things I track or have 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