Obsession with Numbers

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6,7,8,9,10

Let’s do it again

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6,7,8,9,10

Today’s blog is all about “The Numbers” but this will be a break from the dismal US Stats on the Corona Virus. Instead it will be about some very personal numbers, stimulated in part by:

1.      Finding something to do while “quarantined”.

2.     A personal look at my own “obsession with numbers and “Stats”, coupled with:

a.     A recent WSJ article about a guy who gave up coffee for three months. How he found it enhanced his sleep and gave him vivid dreams. (He ended up going back to coffee anyway, however)

b.     My personal Obsession with “Fitbit” stats which tracks sleep, steps, heart-rate etc.

c.      A sense that I was getting grumpy, and Short tempered with my ‘Faithful and Obedient Companion”, particularly during our “stay at home” quarantine.

Some background:

Two weeks ago, I decided to stop drinking coffee (Note: I am a very heavy coffee drinker-averaging at least 1.5 POTS per day something I have done for years). At first, I figured I would give up all coffee for a week. In addition, since I feared that giving up coffee would likely cause me to gain weight, I tacked on abstaining from alcohol as well,  in an effort to offset any increased calories I might be tempted to ingest by forgoing coffee.  My experiment was extended an extra week based on positive feedback from my better half and a sense that like all statisticians, I needed “more data”.

Now my Fitbit (The replacement one I got for Christmas) tracks both sleep duration and assigns a sleep score based not only on duration but also Heartrate and Oxygen saturation and “stages”  (REM, Light and deep).  Of course It also tracks the usual activities like steps, cardiac load, heart rate by the minute etc. I find it all very “fascinating”. One thing that has been driving me crazy, however, was how, invariably, my sleep stats were always worse than my “Faithful and Obedient” companions. I rarely “beat her” and the fact my sleep was always classified “poor” or at best “fair” while hers was always “Fair” or “Good” and sometime even “excellent”.

Funny I always attributed it to my “father’s” old saying when we discussed a good night’s sleep. He always attributed that (without a Fitbit of course) to a “clear conscience, or no conscience at all”. In that respect I always attributed “My Faithful and Obedient Companions” great nights sleep to the latter!.  She in turn almost always said simply “you drink too much coffee dear”.

Now for the “stats”:

 Here are my weekly scores since the end of January (Note I had to return my Christmas present due to a defect after New Years so my scoring was based on weekly number starting with the end of January). 

These are Weekly Averages:

Jan 26-Feb 1           Fair 66 Score        6:30 Avg Time            67-61    Resting Heart rate range

Feb 2-Feb 8            Fair 72                  6:17                             61-64

Feb 9-Feb 15          Fair 75                  6:44                             60-62   

Feb 16-Feb 22        Fair 76                  6:36                             58-61

Feb 23-Feb 29        Fair 74                  6:51                             64-61

Mar 1- Mar 7          Fair 72                  6:16                             61-64

Mar 8- Mar 15        Fair 74                  6:36                             61-66

Mar 15-Mar21        Fair 76                  6:17                             61-63

Mar 22-Mar 28       Fair 67                  5:58                             60-64

Mar29-Apr 4           Fair 73                 6:09                              62-63

Apr 5-Apr 11          Fair 75                  6:23                             59-63

Apr 12- Apr 18       Fair 73                  6:17                             57-60

Apr 19-   Now         Fair 74                 7:00                             57-59

Observations

First Observation Sleep scores- It would seem that “ No coffee, no Booze” had no decerning influence on my Fitbit sleep score.  However there may be a hint of “longer sleep” by avoiding coffee and booze.  But then again that may be due to one day this last week I catnapped which in and of itself be due to no coffee. Either way I hopefully put to bed my “faithful and Obedient Companions never ending theory as to my poor sleep scores. I may concede that my resting heart rate may have come down a bit from lack of caffeine stimulus. But I have to add that based on my older Fitbit’s heart rate monitor I have had  other low periods during the last 12 months. (Example when I was at Stowe’s lower altitude, I often had weeks in the upper 50’s.)   In fact, my resting heart rate overall…according to Fitbit has tracked mine as “very good to excellent” for a guy my age overall, dating back over 2 years.  A comfort perhaps in a time when cardiac status is a factor in Coronavirus impacts. Either way I consider my “experiment” to be a “success”. At least in the sense that I feel comfortable in taking up coffee again (well maybe not 1.5 pots per day) and in rejoining my Faithful and Obedient in our nightly cocktail hour (which was never in doubt and commences this evening!).

My second Observation is this- and is based on my “Faithful and Obedient Companions” “Observation” that I have been “more pleasant” to deal with these last 2 weeks. I don’t know but perhaps focusing on this project has made me “more mellow”. No matter I agree with her on that point and I sure will keep that in mind as I reach for that coffee pot every morning…at least for now!

Finally, a final request for my readers. Please feel  free to share with all of us any interesting “self-improvement” efforts you may have made while stuck in isolation with your significant other…or any other” interesting quarantine observations you may care to share!

Meanwhile stay safe!

With that I bid you all

Adieu