#62: Professor Katarzyna Wac - How to improve your quality of life through data

Listen to it on your favorite podcast provider: 

 An orgasm right before sleep might just mean your glucose levels return back to normal despite drinking alcohol or eating food that increases your glucose level 😃🙋‍♂️Perhaps an experiment you want to try? ☺️

That and what other things you can test and learn from data is what you will learn about from this episode. 

For this episode, I went to academia to see what science actually says about data and health. I was lucky to get Professor Katarzyna Wac on the podcast and share what she sees from her research. 

Prof. Katarzyna Wac is a wealth of knowledge. She is the Founder and Director of the Quality of Life Technologies Lab at Copenhagen University. The lab leverages digital behavioral markers to quantify and improve individuals’ Quality of Life in new ways – drawing on new emerging models from computer science incorporating examination, diagnosis, and treatment of daily life as an “organ” – much like a cardiologist examines heart - and the resulting Quality of Life as a "longitudinal vital sign" - routinely reported for patients and non-patients alike.

She is also a professor at the Geneva School of Economics (GSEM). From 2013 to end of 2020 she has also been affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine (MED). 

Show Notes

0:30 Introduction to Katarzyna Wac

3:40 What were some of the first takeaways from your QoL researches?

14:15 What are some of the devices that have the potential to make a significant impact?

22:22 Glucose monitoring and it’s impact on sleep and nutrition

27:00 The impact of sex on heart rate variability before bed

31:20 The N-of-1 testing

34:05 Social awkwardness while self experimenting

35:05 What are some of the most surprising things that impacted our quality of life?

40:20 Key takeaways from the study?

43:30 Defining intimacy

46:20 Kat’s favorite device that can improve the life quality

51:30 If you could give yourself advice 10 years ago, what would that be?

Connect with Katarzyna Wac

Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GIejbKQAAAAJ&hl=en

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/katarzynawac

Resources:

Fitbit Ace https://www.fitbit.com/ace

Oura Ring https://ouraring.com/

Wearables in Sleep Research https://www.qualityoflifetechnologies.com/jun-2019-wearables-in-sleep-research/

Gary Wolf https://quantifiedself.com/