Hey
Everyone! I can’t believe week seven of senior projects has come to an
end! It seems like I was just creating
my surveys for my sample group just yesterday. And final presentations are also approaching as well. It kind of feels like…
So what did I do this week? This
week I was able to ask my site mentor on questions that some of you guys left
in the comments. The first question I
asked him was could certain diets affect mood? He replied that on a minute
scale, certain foods could affect different hormones but the way diet affects
mood is more on a macro scale. People who continue or stick with their diet
feel more positive after. For instance, if a client comes back from the weekend and
they have stuck to their diet, they usually feel a sense of accomplishment. Meanwhile, if they have not stuck to their diet, they usually feel
negative—usually guilt and kind of disappointment. Thus, diet affects mood on a macro scale. The second question I asked him was related to
whether mood stays constant after a certain point. He said that in the short term, the change
in mood would always be there. Most of the time people feel generally better in
the short term regardless of their fitness level. However, the more you have
been working out and more fit you are, in the long term, the mood change may
start to flatten out and stay constant.
Now
onto how my research went this week. This week, I had asked my site mentor to
start handing out the surveys to my control group. So far I still need to get
more results with the control group. The initial rate this week was pretty low,
but I am confident that next week I can get more people. This week, I was able
to do some more analysis. After getting more results from last week, I
incorporated those into my graph. Looking at the pre vs. post workout graph,
the trend continues. Most people reported that an increase in mood. And of the
six new people I got to complete the survey, their numbers increased as well,
with most of them reporting a increase of a least 2 or 3 points in rating. Looking at the stress levels vs continued
exercise graph, the cluster of high stress levels were with people who have not
been continuing exercise for a prolonged period of time. Thus the trend that people who do not workout
as much seem to have more stress continues. Just so you guys can see as well, here are the
two initial graphs I have so far.
Well
that’s all for this week! Next week I want to get more people to complete my
control group survey. This way I can start analyzing their data as well. I hope I did not bore you with the same old information. So far this is what I was
able to accomplish this week. Tune in next week to see how I progress!
It's interesting to hear about how diets affect mood - or rather, how keeping a diet affects mood. My mom is a psychologist specializing in eating disorders. Many of her clients have been psychologically hurt by constantly trying out diets; even if they lose weight with one, they quickly gain it back. But I assume that the clients at your gym are probably not suffering from eating disorders. I love reading your blog! Do you know yet what you'll do for your final product?
ReplyDeleteHey Stirling, thanks for reading! Its really interesting how keeping certain diets can really affect a person and I am not sure if any of the clients had eating disorders. Its also hard to know because I don't think my site mentor is at liberty to divulge that info. And with your second question, I am not really sure yet. Again, keep reading for more!
DeleteHey Anirudh! Great post but I'm a little confused with your graphs and they're sort of hard to see. Besides that, I've had such an awesome experience following your blog and I'm going to miss it when you stop. Keep up the hard work!
ReplyDeleteHey Nathan, thanks for reading! Sorry the graphs are unclear. There are there to show that in the short term, people feel better post workout and the second one shows in the long term people who workout more continuously, have comparatively lower stress.
DeleteHi Anirudh! What exactly is a good diet? Is it easy or hard for everyone to follow? Looking forward to the next post!
ReplyDeleteHey Brent! To answer your question, there is no generic good diet. Its a specific thing for each person. Its a culmination of factors such as fitness level, health condition, what goals people want etc. These factors determine the percentages of fats, proteins, and carbs. But there is no generic good diet. Following that diet is also up to the person and how dedicated they are.
DeleteHi Anirudh!
ReplyDeleteIt was super interesting to read about the effect of diet on ones mood! Was there anything specific about the surveys that resulted in a low response rate? If so, how do you plan to fix that issue? Looking forward to next week!
Hey Anjalee, thanks for reading! I think the reason probably for the slow rate is the specificity in the control group. However, I will look at the survey to see if there are any questions that may need changing or formatting that needs to be fixed.
DeleteHey Anirudh,
ReplyDeleteI liked reading about some of the questions we have left in the comments. The interaction between your blog and the comment section is really great. It feels like we have some impact on your research as well. The statistics you have posted seemed to have been going in the way of your hypothesis which is always reassuring. Thanks and good luck with the rest of your research!
Hey Kasi, thanks for reading! Yeah I also want to make this interesting for you guys as well. I also think the graph is in a way supporting my hypothesis. Thanks again for reading!
DeleteNice work again Anirudh! Don't worry if your information in the blog is repeated; consistency in results is a good thing! Also keep up with those spicy memes 👌
ReplyDeleteHey Anil, thanks for reading! And I was just kind of worried that it got kind of boring. Thanks again for reading and I am glad you liked the memes!
DeleteHey! It's awesome how much diet can affect a person like that! I am glad your data is working out for you :) best of luck.
ReplyDeleteHey Annie, thanks for reading! I am glad you liked this week's post!
DeleteIts great to see that you are taking the questions we leave into account for your survey. I wouldn't have thought about any external factors which could affect mood such as the person's diet. I'm glad to finally see the graphs from the survey. Although almost everyone reported better or the same mood after working out, there was one person who had a significantly worse mood after working out, do you think that person is just an outlier or what do you make of that if anything?
ReplyDeleteHey Riley thanks for reading! Yeah, I wanted to make the blogs interesting for you guys as well! With the graph, I think that point is an outlier compared to the other points. As of the data, that is the only point who reported a lower mood post workout.
DeleteGreat job, Anirudh. The graphs really show how exercise is affecting all areas of a person. Mood, stress, diets, etc. If you are getting the same results, then your research is working! :D See you next week
ReplyDeleteHey Zak, thanks for reading! Yeah I also think the data and graphs support my hypothesis. Thanks again for reading!
Deletehey great job Anirudh! thank you for answering those questions, both of them were questions i had not thought of but once you mentioned them it intrigued me. i was wondering do you ask the same people to complete the survey more than once? if so i was wondering how much do their answers vary? well keep up the good work and i hope you can get more people to complete your survey.
ReplyDeleteHey Dean, thanks for reading! With regards to your question, I did not ask them twice, firstly because I am analyzing people long term how they have felt in the past. E.G how satisfied they have been with fitness. However, if I had more time I would analyze that.
DeleteHey Anirudh. It sounds like you are making great progress on your research and data. It was also nice to see some of the comments' questions answered in your post. Keep up the good work and can't wait to read more about it.
ReplyDeleteHey Anisha, thanks for reading! I am glad that you enjoyed this weeks post. I hope to continue making this progress for the last few weeks of the project.
DeleteHi Anirudh! The diet-mood discussion you had with your mentor seems really interesting. Does it go both ways? Can mood affect how people tackle their diets as well? Can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteHey Shreya, thanks for reading! The diet mood discussion was really interesting. Yes, it can go both ways. I asked my site mentor and he said that people eat emotionally. For instance, when people feel bad, they tend to not want to feel bad. Eating sugar for instance releases "feel-good" chemicals in the brain, they use eating as a means of getting euphoria or avoiding emotional pain. Thus ones emotional mood can affect how they diet and eat. Thanks again for reading!
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