The Biometrics of High School Teaching

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I started my first year of teaching high school math and physics this September 2022. Teaching is known to be extremely demanding in the first few years. You are bombarded with information and must prepare the course material from scratch. Luckily for me, the majority of the preparation was shared with me.

I thought it would be interesting to share my biometric data and mood data for the month to see if any trends are out of the norm. The biometric data were tracked with my Fitbit Inspire 2. The mood and habit data were tracked using the Daylio app. Armed with these data, I’m able to analyze the following domains of my life:

  1. Sleep
  2. Stress
  3. Physical Activity & Movement
  4. Mood
  5. Habits

Takeaways

  1. Sleep:
    • I slept about the same or maybe even a bit better during my first month of teaching than in the previous six months.
    • Subjectively, it might be because of the routine and the fact that I am tired when 9 pm rolls around.
    • An average sleep score of 84/100 is satisfactory although there is room for improvement.
    • There were 2 or 3 nights when I had anxiety about not being prepared enough for the next day. The frequency of these events should dwindle as I gain experience and have less preparation to do.
  2. Stress:
    • A Fitbit stress score of 74/100 is not statistically different from previous months.
    • The two nights with very low HRV were caused by staying up partying.
    • I started using the Quiet for Gmail app which disables my work email notifications from 6 pm to 6 am on weekdays and all day on weekends.
    • I worked a few times outside out of those hours but eventually plan to limit myself to work between 6 and 6 every day.
  3. Movement:
    • I average 10,624 steps per day which I’m happy with. I wore my Vivo barefoot shoes every day at school. I teach mostly standing up with my Surface Pro 8 and a teaching podium on wheels.
    • I was sedentary for about an hour less than usual which is great.
    • I managed to squeeze in an average of 83 active and 15 zone minutes per day (see Fitbit definitions). I biked to school most days, took long walks, and started playing badminton and hockey once per week. I am in the process of looking for a winter bike.
    • I suspect that these numbers may go up over time as I start working out at school and maybe sign up for fitness courses such as yoga outside of school.
  4. Mood:
    • Daylio average mood of 3.7/5 is consistent with the previous thousand days’ worth of data.
    • This is evidence for the happiness set point theory. A dream job is unlikely to provide you with an unwavering feeling that your life is perfect.
    • For me, it is relatively easy to get myself from a 1.5/5 to a 3.5/5. However, the hormetic nature of happiness makes it difficult and perhaps impossible to shift your affect to strictly positive experiences.
    • The average daily mood plot seems to indicate that I’m living for the weekend. More data is needed to say with any confidence whether this trend will last.
  5. Habits:
    • Without trying, I was able to take care of the big rock habits this month.
    • The nature of the job takes care of learning, creation, and helping people.
    • Paying more attention and going through life with ease is something that I’m confident will rebound. Starting a yoga or meditation club at school is one way to ensure it gets done on a regular basis.
    • I’ve been pretty good about packing healthy lunches. Packing lunches the night before is something I can work on.

Sleep

Fitbit Sleep Profile

Bears tend to keep a consistent sleep schedule, regularly falling asleep around the same time. They go to bed earlier than most and once they drift off, Bears tend to reach a sound sleep quickly. Their sleep tends to be long and restful, with
a relatively high proportion of deep and REM sleep. Bears typically experience few disruptions, despite some brief awakenings throughout the night. This consistent, strong sleep routine means daytime naps are rare.

Stress

Physical Activity & Movement

According to Daylio, I reported 14 days of exercise and 13 days of walks. I also biked to work on most days (5 km ride one way).

Mood

Habits

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