Light Blue Headband

The Measured Life

The group is part of a rapidly growing movement of fitness buffs, techno-geeks, and patients with chronic conditions who obsessively monitor various personal metrics. At the center of the movement is a loosely organized group known as the Quantified Self , whose members are driven by the idea that collecting detailed data can help them make better choices about their health and behavior. In meetings held all over the world, self-trackers discuss how they use a combination of traditional spreadsheets, an expanding selection of smart-phone apps, and various consumer and custom-built devices to monitor patterns of food intake, sleep, fatigue, mood, and heart rate.

Of course, self-tracking is not new. Many athletes have been meticulously monitoring personal metrics for decades. And some people with chronic conditions such as migraines, diabetes, and allergies have done the same in an effort to shed light on how daily habits may influence their symptoms. But new consumer tools have made self-tracking both simpler and more rigorous, generating reams of data that can be scrutinized for patterns and clues. The new devices, along with the increasing ease of sharing data with other users through social-networking sites, mean that more and more people are finding it useful to quantify their lives. The Zeo, a $199 device based on technology that until recently required the services of a trained technician, makes it easy for users to track their sleep cycles. The device consists of a soft headband with a fabric sensor that wirelessly transmits EEG data to a bedside monitor. A programmable alarm clock wakes the wearer at the optimal phase of sleep. And each night's data can be uploaded to a computer, where users can study how their sleep is affected by environmental factors such as weather, light, and more.

Sanjiv Shah, a longtime insomniac who participates in the Boston group, believes that wearing orange-tinted glasses for several hours before bed makes it easier for him to fall asleep. (The theory is that the orange tint blocks blue light, which has been shown in both human and animal studies to influence circadian rhythms.) To quantify the effects, he used not only the Zeo but also a thumb-size device called the Fitbit, which incorporates an accelerometer that measures movement, and a camera trained on his bed to record his sleep for a month. His results: without the glasses, he took an average of 28 minutes to fall asleep, but with them he took only four.

Easily Amused Mommy: TUTORIAL: Faux Peacock Feather Headband For ...

The name Easily Amused Mommy came to be as I was pondering what defines me as a person. There are the obvious things--I am a follower of Jesus, a mother of three, and a wife of 8 years. Then there are the superficial things--I thrill over all things girlie, drink gallons of coffee a day, and read, scrapbook, and crochet between changing diapers and cooking dinner. (I promise I wash my hands between those last two!) My bestie and I (because I refer to her before making any life-altering decisions, such as the naming of my new blog) joked that I should name this blog "Jamaymay's Buffalo Cupcake Penguin Paradise" but we felt it just didn't flow. The it hit me: I am easily amused by life's everyday sillies and pleasures. Finding the joy in the small stuff is what gets me through life's twists. Join me!

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