Quantified Self

There is a massive amount of health-tech being developed at the moment, much of which is about allowing you to monitor your own vital statistics. I'm sure it will get more detailed in the future but its a great start.

I'll hopefully start reviewing some home/self-monitoring gadgets soon, and report back on ease of use and accuracy.

I've been taking my blood pressure a couple of times a month for years now - it's a bit of a manual process still - which has allowed me to set myself a reduction target (with noticeable effects in a year) and, as importantly, gives me a baseline to compare future trends with. I'll spot any change months, maybe years, before any physical symptoms allowing me to address it in time. And if it suddenly jumps up the doctor doesn't have to guess whether I've got general hypertension or its something more acute - I'll be able to confidently say that a high blood pressure it abnormal for my body.

Although the club is primarily interested in monitoring one's health, the quantified self movement is not restricted to that alone and encompasses measuring anything you can about yourself for its own sake. Likewise, although QS is facilitated through the use of technology, technology is not a prerequisite for QS, it can equally be done using just pen and paper.

Cholesterol

What is Cholesterol - How To Reduce Cholesterol Naturally - AntiAgingSolutions (YouTube) - 1-Feb-2012
Good animation of the process of atherosclerosis

Read more about: Blood Pressure, Fitness Trackers.