The Secret to Good Health (Pt. 1)

I attempt to answer the age old question what is best for my health using myself as (N=1) experiment.  In other words what is better: Sleep or exercise or diet?  The output that I wish to measure is “bodyfat percentage”.  The main reason I select this aspect to measure is how it strongly correlates to longevity a due to a good profile in lean body mass and linkage to good insulin sensitivity.  I the test subject being of moderate bodyfat (male 10-15%) is therefore a perfect candidate to test (since having a 4% bodyfat and losing bodyfat would be considered unhealthy).  I am not a medical professional… I just attempt to read the scientific numbers and this report is purely to illustrate the demonstration of using statistics.

Variables:  As stated before bodyfat change will be the measured output.  An increase will be seen as a negative mark against my health and a decrease will be viewed as positive event.  The three measures that have been recorded is 1) hours of sleep averaged in a month, 2) amount of exercise I average each day (measured in calories) and, 3) Alcoholic Beverages consumed in a total month (measured as a unit of 12oz beer, 8oz wine, 1.5oz hard liquor).

The change in bodyfat percentage was put on a chart to analyze the validity or the data and the distribution.

Block number	Cell boundaries	Frequency
1	-1.057%	3
2	-0.563%	2
3	-0.070%	7
4	0.424%	3
5	0.918%	3
6	1.412%
block size	0.494%

Figure 1 Chart of Changes in Bodyfat Change

Figure 2 Chart of Changes in Bodyfat Change

Figure 2 illustrates a normal distribution evenly centered about the median of the date.  Most of the measurements were in the 3^rd block which represented data of -0.070% to 0.424% change in bodyfat.

Month Sampled	30-day Sleeping average	Estimated amount of Exercise (Calories)	Alcoholic Beverages	Change in Body Fat
Sum	143.2	6454.3	455.3	0.0314
Standard deviation	0.2	84.2	11.4	0.0071
Sample mean	8.0	358.6	25.3	0.0017
Median	7.9	358.3	25.0	0.0021
Coefficient of Variation	2.7	23.5	45.1	407.1271

Figure 3 Analysis of Variables and Output

I then graphed the relationship between the variables and the output and found these conclusions.

Stay tuned for the data...