Your own scale: noticing where you are
A scale centred on 0, in your own words. Over time it shows your usual range, your streaks, and early signs worth paying attention to.
Zero is you, as usual
Your scale is centred on 0, your normal. Not perfect, just usual for you. Above it is "up" and below it is "down". You name the levels yourself, so they mean something to you: maybe Low, Neutral and High, or Flat, Steady and Wired. You can add up to three levels on each side. There's no right reading. Just an honest one.
Streaks and patterns
The line under your scale shows where you've been and how long you've stayed there. Over a few weeks you may notice patterns:
- Certain times of day, days of the week, or people.
- How sleep, food, alcohol, exercise or workload move you.
- Small changes that tend to come before bigger ones.
Those small changes are your early-warning signs. Everyone's are different: snapping at people, skipping meals, staying up late, pulling back from friends. New Zealand's Healthify suggests keeping a daily record of mood and sleep to help spot changes early (Healthify NZ).
When it's worth talking to someone
This app doesn't diagnose anything. But some patterns are worth sharing with your GP, a counsellor or 1737:
- A long low. Feeling down, or getting little pleasure from things, most of the day for more than about two weeks (NHS Every Mind Matters; NHS).
- A long high, especially with less sleep. Several days of feeling very up or wired, needing much less sleep without feeling tired, racing thoughts, or being unusually irritable or impulsive (Healthify NZ).
- Any change that worries you or the people close to you.
Your scale history is something concrete you can show them.
Try it in the app
- Name your scale levels in Settings → Your scale, in words that feel like yours.
- Mark your scale at each check-in, even when nothing much is happening. Your 0s matter.
- Look at the line under the week, and the runs in Analytics, weekly. What came before your ups and downs?
- Write down two or three early-warning signs you notice, and what helps.
If it gets too much: stop, ground yourself, and reach out. In Aotearoa New Zealand, call or text 1737 any time to talk with a trained counsellor. In an emergency, call 111.
Sources
- Healthify NZ, Bipolar disorder (mood and sleep diary; signs of an extended high)
- Healthify NZ, Depression
- NHS Every Mind Matters, Low mood
- NHS, Depression in adults: symptoms