Mood Tracker: (An Update)
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Mood trackers are used now-a-days to keep tabs on your physical health because physical and mental health of human beings is interconnected.
You can use your mood tracker for not only your mood and health but also for your exercise, sleep and other routine tasks.
It is a relatively new technique in the field of psychology which will help you not only track your mood but also help you improve your mental health.
In this article we will discuss mood tracking and why it is important.
What is mood tracking?
Positive psychology is a rather new branch of psychology where you can use different techniques for improvement in your mental health and well-being.
In this technique a person records his mood with fixed time intervals.
This technique will help you see the pattern in the mood and how your mood varies with time.
It is one of the best proven methods to help people who are suffering from mental health issues, especially mood disorders like clinical depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Positive psychology also emphasizes on using this technique to improve your mental health as well as feeling better generally.
Why should you track your mood?
Tracking your mood will help you make the most of your day.
Mood tracking is one of the most amazing ways to let you know how you feel about your day.
It can also help you organize your time and also make the schedule of your sleep and diet patterns.
You can also look at the things which are helpful and things which are harmful for your daily routine and temperament.
However, there are a few more valid reasons which will help you understand the importance of mood tracking.
1. Identify Negativity
You cannot only identify the negative signs in your nature but you can also find out the reasons behind these negative thoughts.
All the triggers and warning signs which will lead you to further problems can be identified by mood tracking.
It can help you identify the problems and then resolve these problems that will help you improve your mental health. It will in turn help you psychological well-being as well as physical health.
You will also be able to avoid these triggers so it can further improve your frame of mind and temper.
Once you start mood tracking you will realize how helpful it is to improve your temper.
2. Active Participation
A diary with all of your mood triggers and everything which brought changes in your mood and temper can help you have more control over your temper as well as your physical health.
Health outcomes are proven to be better when people have educated themselves.
Moreover, prognosis for much mental health disorder is improved when people have more information about the disorder.
Information can also help people make an informed decision and in turn improved better results of treatment.
You can also track your improvement and changing in your health by using your mood journal which will help you understand the effectiveness of the particular treatment.
3. Improved Strategies
When a health professional asks about everything related to your disease as well as the changes in your mood and you record everything about your health it will give the health professional a clear picture of what you have been through.
A mood journal will track the smallest of things and also the strategies which can help you improve your health.
So you can continue the strategies which are helpful for you and get rid of the ones which are harmful for your health and temperament.
A mood journal is good for tracking everything related to your habits and lifestyle practices.
4. Helping Health Professionals
It is a health professional’s dream to have a full fledged view of what your health is like.
It gives a precise and detailed history of your problems as well as an idea of what kind of strategies will help you deal with the issue.
It is also helpful because sometimes you have a problem in recalling the events of the day while a journal will give the health professional a clear understanding and every single and little detail of your day.
It will also give more relevant appropriate advice for treatment.
A mood journal or mood tracker helps health professionals deal with the peculiarity of the problem.
5. Well Planned Health Schedule
Planning for your health can be difficult at times because of the blurred picture of your health and mood.
In that case, a mood tracking journal can give early warning signs and symptoms as well as the wellness strategies.
It allows the health professional to use that chart and develop a better health schedule and see if it will help your cause or not.
That is the key to improved health and advantageous wellness strategies.
A mood tracking journal does not hold a purpose of recording your illness but also to have appropriate wellness strategies.
Knowing if you are having more good days or bad days
Tracking your mood generally on a daily basis and keeping track of your mood will help you identify the triggers throughout the day which might alter your mood.
You can also see which events or triggers are the ones that can have devastating effects on your mood.
You can identify those triggers and then have some time to meditate before these stressful events so you can deal with these stressful events with more relaxed state.
It can have calming effects but you learn to deal ideally with stressful situations.
What are mood trackers?
Mood tracker is a device which will help users to identify changes in his/her mood.
It will help you track if you have been sad, angry, tired or bored during the day and which mood prevailed during the day. You can have different tricks and methods to improve your mood tracking record.
You can use colorful markers and sticky notes if you are using a paper journal for mood tracking.
It is one of the most helpful methods to improve your mood and have a successful day and in turn a successful life.
A good mood journal will help you increase the chances of a successful life.
Types of Mood Trackers
Mood trackers will help you track the rollercoaster of emotions.
In earlier times, there were mood rings to identify the change in mood of a person but now times have changed and we have more than one option.
These trackers can help millions and millions of people who are suffering from anxiety and depression.
You can use a lot of different methods to track your mood but there are three main types of mood trackers.
1. Mobile Apps
2. Mood Charts
3. Mood Journal
Mobile Apps
You can use your smart phones to track your mood. All you need is a smartphone and an internet connection.
If you have a smart phone with enough memory and internet connection available, you will have to download the mood tracking app first.
You will just have to go to the play store in your smartphone and download the app. Once you have installed the app, you will have instructions to follow in order to start tracking your mood.
Some of the most popular apps for mood tracking are Moodistory, T2 Mood Tracker, Happiness, Moodlytics, Moodtrack Social Diary, Daylio and WorryWatch.
All these apps use different strategies to help you track your mood so you can choose according to your requirements and understanding.
For example, Moodtrack Social Diary turns your emotions into graphs so you can see the changes in your mood vividly and plan accordingly.
Daylio also helps a lot of people who are not good with words and they don’t know how to convert your emotions into words.
It is completely wordless and mostly helpful for people who are fan of visual representations.
WorryWatch is a planner for you and it can also track your mood and can be used as both tracker and planner.
It is helpful because it keeps tracks of all the moments which had you anxious and logs trends.
It is amazing as it also helps you to remember to practice a breathing exercise when a stressful event comes your way depending on the previous trends.
These apps are the best ways for people who are into technology and do not wish to use traditional ways of mood tracking.
Mood Charts
Mood charts is a rather simple way to track your mood and it is comparatively simpler than other methods.
All you have to do is make a chart of time, days and points where you have to track the record of your mood.
Next thing you will have to do is put a tick or a cross in front of the emotions you felt during a particular time. A chart can be the simplest you can take mood tracking.
However, you can be creative and use colorful indicators for changing moods like red for angry and pink for relaxation or calming situations.
It is easier and does not require much effort for even an illiterate person.
Mood Journal
It is probably the most widely used and oldest method to track your mood.
Interestingly enough, you can use both an app and a real journal for your mood tracking.
Whichever mode you use, it is clearly very simple to use in any way. Apps are easily available on the phone and you can also buy paper journals from Amazon and other online stores.
There are a number of different types of ideas in order to customize your mood tracker. For example, you can have a simple one with a tree with green and yellow leaves were yellow represents sadness and green represents a happy mood.
You can also use the hot air balloon idea where you can use four different shades which track moods like sad, happy, and irritated and meh moods.
Mood mandala, Zen leaves and a year in pixels are some of the ideas for a creative mood tracker. You can also use many more ideas from the internet.
Mood tracking has some of the proven benefits and one should always consider mood tracking as a device to not only track your mood but also to live a successful life.
FAQs about Mood Tracker
Is mood tracking only well for mental health?
No, it also helps your physical health.
Can I use mood tracking for my sleep schedule?
Yes, mood tracking can be helpful in sleep, diet and exercise schedule as well.
Can a not-so-literate person use mood tracking?
Yes, some apps are very user friendly.
Do I have to keep a journal if I’m going to a health professional?
You can use your smartphone for mood tracking as well.
References
psychcentral.com/blog/5-good-reasons-to-track-your-mood-an-interview-with-james-bishop/
sweetplanit.com/home/2018/3/10/bullet-journal-mood-mandalas
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