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The Neureka Project aims to take brain health research out of the lab and into your smartphone. By playing games that test your brain and completing questionnaires on neureka, our users not only provide data about themselves which helps science move forward, but at the same time gain insights into what they can do to improve their own brain health.
In honour of #BrainAwarenessWeek2021, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new graphical interface in neureka that allows users to track their mood over time, review how their mood fluctuates and potentially gain insights into what makes them feel good or bad. The best part is that as you reflect on your mood graph, scientists use your data to improve our understanding of what causes disorders of the mind and hopefully one day prevent them.
Mood tracking is often used to provide insight into the developmental course of mental health disorders including depression [1], anxiety [2], and bipolar disorder [3]. Tracking mood in real time allows you to gain insights into your own mental health and establish links between your data, and how you are feeling in a given moment of time. Research suggests that self-monitoring your mood in this way can lead to increased emotional self-awareness which will help you to understand your own emotions. For example, depression research found that mood tracking was linked to increased self-awareness and subsequent reductions in depression and anxiety [4].
This feature is the first in a series of features we are launching in 2021 to give realtime, individualised feedback to our users based off of their own data.
If you haven’t already, download neureka today for free on iPhone or Android!
References
Wichers, M., Simons, C. J. P., Kramer, I. M. A., Hartmann, J. A., Lothmann, C., Myin‐Germeys, I., ... & Van Os, J. (2011). Momentary assessment technology as a tool to help patients with depression help themselves. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 124(4), 262-272.
Walz, L. C., Nauta, M. H., & aan het Rot, M. (2014). Experience sampling and ecological momentary assessment for studying the daily lives of patients with anxiety disorders: A systematic review. Journal of anxiety disorders, 28(8), 925-937.
Tsanas, A., Saunders, K. E. A., Bilderbeck, A. C., Palmius, N., Osipov, M., Clifford, G. D., ... & De Vos, M. (2016). Daily longitudinal self-monitoring of mood variability in bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Journal of affective disorders, 205, 225-233.
Bakker, D., & Rickard, N. (2018). Engagement in mobile phone app for self-monitoring of emotional wellbeing predicts changes in mental health: MoodPrism. Journal of Affective Disorders, 227, 432–442. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.016