Personal Wellness and Activity Tracking Analysis
Personal Wellness and Activity Tracking
Experience-wise, I have always had a moderately active background related to fitness and well-being, though not necessarily with consistent patterns. Usually, to stay fit and healthy, I mostly rely on taking regular walks, attending gym sessions, or maintaining overall movement throughout the day. Prior to embarking on this assignment related to monitoring my activity patterns for three weeks, my primary objectives were to enhance sleep patterns and stay regular with exercise while comprehending how other factors, like stress or tiredness, can impact basic well-being.
For this assignment, I was required to monitor different dimensions of my wellness every day, which included sleep hours, sleep quality, soreness, fatigue, illness, stress, overall feeling, mood, appetite, injury, aerobic exercise minutes, and muscle-strengthening activity minutes. These factors can easily be linked with my physical and mental state of well-being. For instance, it has been proven that sleep hours and sleep quality can significantly affect cognitive functioning, energy levels, and emotions (Hirshkowitz et al., 2015). The overall role of exercise has been linked with improved moods, stress relief, and optimal well-being (Warburton & Bredin, 2017). By tracking these elements of my life daily, I was able to understand different patterns associated with how daily activities impact my well-being.
Summary of Results
Main Findings
According to the data from my tracking sheet:
- Most variable metrics: Sleeping hours were variable, ranging between 5.5 and 7 hours daily. Moods, stress, soreness, and tiredness were also variable throughout the three weeks.
- Most stable metrics: Exercise minutes were remarkably regular—45 minutes daily with no gaps. Appetite, illness, and injuries were similarly stable.
Week-by-Week Analysis
Week 1 (Days 1-7)
- Sleep: 5.5 to 7 hours.
- Sleep quality: Mainly ranging between 6 and 7.
- Mood and feeling: Variation ranging from 5 to 7.
- Stress levels: Remained moderate.
- Exercise: Aerobic exercise was done daily (45 minutes every day). Strength training took anywhere from 35 to 56 minutes.
Week 2 (Days 8-14)
- Sleep: Slight improvement in sleep hours; approximately 6 to 6.5 hours.
- Mood: Improved marginally to 6 or 7 on most days.
- Stress: Variable but always moderate.
- Soreness: Slightly heightened in the middle part of the week, probably owing to regular exercise.
- Exercise: Remained constant (45 minutes every day).
Week 3 (Days 15-21)
- Sleep: Slept about the same number of hours, but mood and overall feeling improved to around 6 or 7.
- Stress and fatigue: Remained moderate.
- Exercise: Aerobic and strength training exercises were performed every day.
Notable Trends
- Exercise was not only regular but was done daily; I completed 45 minutes every day.
- The number of sleep hours remained relatively stable but was between 5.5 and 7 hours, which was just below the ideal range of 7 to 9 hours for an adult.
- Moods were found to be relatively higher when sleep was slightly improved.
- Stress was concentrated at mid-levels (around 3 to 5) throughout.
- There were no cases of sickness or injury throughout the 21-day period.
Surprising Observations
- Although exercise minutes remained high every day, soreness remained fairly moderate at 3 to 5.
- Although exercise patterns remained regular, there were still variations in moods and stress levels, indicating other factors were affecting well-being (e.g., school, work, schedule).
- There was consistent exercise every day without any breaks, which is difficult to achieve over an agreed-upon three weeks.
Consistency Analysis
The level of tracking consistency that I showed was significantly high. According to the data provided, there was not a single day when the tracking was not done. All figures for 21 days were filled in properly.
There was only a slight discrepancy concerning sleep tracking: small variations in sleep recording; however, these were related to differences in schedules and not missing entries. The tracking was complete and reliable.
Sleep Routines and Health
Sleep Duration
Sleeping hours varied between 5.5 and 7 hours, which was just below optimal recommendations. For 6.5 to 7 hours of sleep, moods were relatively high mostly.