3 ms·

Data drives me to do better.

onetimemanytime 7y ago
Unless it misleads you. One can "lose" 2 lbs...by weighing before drinking water after a run. Did you really lose 2 lbs?
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  Weight loss isn't really a good analogy. It's much more about trends over time than any individual data point. When we're talking about diabetics and blood sugar, one data point could be the difference between life and death.
- xurias 7y ago
  If you're allowing a single data point to have that much power over what or how you think, you've already lost. Especially if you decide to ignore context like "I just lost water by running and I haven't had anything to drink yet", or even important variables like time of day. The number by itself is meaningless. Data (as in a ton of data points) with context can be incredibly useful. Don't blame the tool if you don't learn how to use it properly.
  - notretarded 7y ago
    Oh to be blessed with decent analytical intelligence. Not everyone is, however.
- colechristensen 7y ago
  If you're misled by thinking you lost 2 pounds when instead you just lost some water, you are missing some pretty essential data.
randcraw 7y ago
This is the point. If you don't use the additional info somehow -- like eating or exercising differently based on info like BG fingersticks -- merely adding more info achieves zero. That should be the takeaway lesson from this study. Just because some people stuck their fingers and gathered BG numbers three times a day does not mean they acted on that info to change their health. Until health pros make this clear to patients, that they need to actually use this info to adapt their lifestyle on a daily basis, there's simply no point in gathering daily info like this. And certainly not at a frequency of 3 or 4 times a day. Once you've dialed in your lifestyle into regular eating and exercise habits, repeatedly gathering daily numbers is redundant overkill. Gathering BG numbers no more than one day a week should suffice, just to confirm you remain homeostatic. Gathering info, by itself, changes nothing. (BTW, I've had T2D for 15 years now. So I've walked the walk.)

Unless it misleads you. One can "lose" 2 lbs...by weighing before drinking water after a run. Did you really lose 2 lbs?

SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
Weight loss isn't really a good analogy. It's much more about trends over time than any individual data point. When we're talking about diabetics and blood sugar, one data point could be the difference between life and death.
xurias 7y ago
If you're allowing a single data point to have that much power over what or how you think, you've already lost. Especially if you decide to ignore context like "I just lost water by running and I haven't had anything to drink yet", or even important variables like time of day. The number by itself is meaningless. Data (as in a ton of data points) with context can be incredibly useful. Don't blame the tool if you don't learn how to use it properly.
- notretarded 7y ago
  Oh to be blessed with decent analytical intelligence. Not everyone is, however.
colechristensen 7y ago
If you're misled by thinking you lost 2 pounds when instead you just lost some water, you are missing some pretty essential data.

randcraw 7y ago

This is the point. If you don't use the additional info somehow -- like eating or exercising differently based on info like BG fingersticks -- merely adding more info achieves zero. That should be the takeaway lesson from this study. Just because some people stuck their fingers and gathered BG numbers three times a day does not mean they acted on that info to change their health. Until health pros make this clear to patients, that they need to actually use this info to adapt their lifestyle on a daily basis, there's simply no point in gathering daily info like this. And certainly not at a frequency of 3 or 4 times a day. Once you've dialed in your lifestyle into regular eating and exercise habits, repeatedly gathering daily numbers is redundant overkill. Gathering BG numbers no more than one day a week should suffice, just to confirm you remain homeostatic. Gathering info, by itself, changes nothing. (BTW, I've had T2D for 15 years now. So I've walked the walk.)