Episode Details
Back to Episodes“I tracked my emotions for 11 years and here’s what I found out about mental health” by KatSpartz
Published 2 weeks, 5 days ago
Description
Before we dive in, here are some of the most surprising findings:
- Alcohol makes me happier and doesn’t affect my sleep, happiness, or productivity the next day.
- Ramen and chips ~3×'d my irritability intensity. Ovulating ~3×'d my grumpiness frequency.
- Polyamory doesn’t hurt my emotional well-being (surprising to me) but it dramatically reduces my life satisfaction.
- Antidepressants probably gave me depression.
- 2020 was actually my best year on record. More on this later in the post.
- Weather totally affects my mood, specifically, grey overcast skies. Good thing I spent most of my life in the Pacific Northwest, a place famed for its sunniness.
- Starting a charity approximately bajillion x’ed my mentions of the word “stressed”.
- Meditation works for me - only when it's a new meditation technique. Then the effect fades and only comes back if I try a new technique.
- Cannabis, despite making me very happy in the moment, does not affect my mood overall, one way or the other.
- Drugs, meditative states, and Christmas are the source of practically all of my peak days. Work accomplishments don’t show up in this list.
- Polyamory and conflict (related) are the source of practically all of my worst days.
- Largely my mental health is unpredictable and [...]
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Outline:
(01:52) Alcohol makes me happier, despite "what the science says".
(05:31) Ramen and chips triples my irritability intensity. Birth control stopping ovulation reduces irritability frequency.
(09:53) Polyamory tanks my life and relationship satisfaction
(14:13) 2020. was my best year and it's a mystery as to why
(19:25) Antidepressants probably gave me depression
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First published:
September 1st, 2026
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.