Life logging (especially mood) to prevent depression?

Quantified Self QS Open Forum
1

Tracking my ups and downs in life and all of the variables that might cause them is more than just fascinating: I feel like it’s almost a necessity. I tend to cycle through bouts of happiness and depression (might be slightly bipolar?).

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

My hope is to give myself enough objective(ish) data that I have no choice but to make the right lifestyle and habit-forming decisions: it’s hard to argue with a chart with years of data showing that you are happy when you exercise/eat healthy/socialize/etc.

2

The cognitive behavior therapy workbook “The Feel Good Handbook” contains charts to assess your moods. It’s a bunch of questions. Answering them might take 2-3 minutes each times. I would rather answer all those questions once per week than write down a single value each day.

The book is also good because there’s a study that shows that doing the exercises of the book produces a statistical significant effect as far as improving depression outcomes goes.