Mindfulness Pills- Results

Here is a follow-up on my mindfulness pills experiment!


These are some pictures of the types of readout I had access to on my mobile phone during the experiment- summarized data on sleep, activity, and the times that I took pills.


I also accessed a more raw form of the data for further investigation (above is an excerpt from that readout). The experiment was fairly short (the system is not yet FDA approved, so certain experimental protocols must be observed). However, even in that short time I found meaningful results. I often had significant heart rate spikes after energy or will-power pills. In fact, my bike rides to and from work were more intense after an Energy pill than without one. In more anecdotal terms, during this week my kitchen was cleaner than it ever had been!

More interestingly, though, was that I was focused on using energy pills to follow through with my plans- not skip workouts or chores, which kept me constantly engaged, and pushed me to reach all my goals for the day. Because of this, the other negative emotions I was hoping to avoid- sadness or stress and anger- kind of got washed out. By focusing on giving myself a “pre-emptive power up” to tackle a daunting task or stressor early on, I avoided getting to the “high stress” or “despair” level. In fact, in the entire experiment , I didn’t use a single happiness or calmness pill- only focus and willpower.