Creating Your Own Personal Health Journal
A personal health journal is a record of an individual’s important health and wellness information. These journals can vary from patient to patient, but they often contain information on one’s medical history, symptoms, medications, treatment progress, and other relevant notes. Keeping a personal health journal has numerous benefits for those facing a chronic illness or treatment plan — ranging from staying organized to being able to learn more about your health. Keep reading to find out how to create your own!
Let’s first discuss all of the things that can be included in a personal health journal.
The keyword here is “personal.” There’s no right or wrong way to keep a health journal. The general guideline is: if it’s helpful for you to record the information, include it. To help get you started, here’s some common information that can be included in your journal.
01 Personal information (name, birth date, and contact information)
02 Medical history (past diagnoses, surgeries, reasons for hospitalization)
03 Medication list (including dosages, frequencies, and daily records of adherence)
04 Allergies or adverse reactions
05 Immunization records
06 Known family medical history
07 Symptoms, moods, and changes in health status
08 Notes from medical appointments or consultations
09 Test results (blood work or imaging studies)
10 Measurements (vitals, heart rate, weight, etc.)
11 Journal entries and progress updates
Digital Health Journals vs. Written Health Journals
Both digital and written health journals have their advantages, and which one is better for an individual depends on their unique preferences and needs.
A digital health journal can be more convenient for a number of reasons. First, a digital health journal, hosted on a smartphone for example, can be accessed much more conveniently than a physical journal that would have to be carried around. Also, many health tracker mobile apps have features that make it easy to log a symptom or activity in the matter of seconds, organize and filter your data in chronological order, and easily share your information with your care team.
Wave Health App is a digital symptom tracker and health journal that allows individuals to store important treatment, hospital, and health information, as well as log daily symptoms, activities, meals, etc. Some of the added benefits of this app compared to a physical journal are its ability to send you medication and appointment reminders, draw insights from the activities you log, and automatically prepare a copy of your information to send to a doctor or caregiver.
Additionally, a digital health journal may offer more privacy and security options, such as password protection or encryption, to protect sensitive information.
On the other hand, a written health journal is preferred by some individuals because it is personal and tangible. It may be easier for some patients to set aside time to write in a journal regularly and to take it with them to appointments. Writing by hand can also be used as a way to manage the stress or anxiety of dealing with a chronic health condition.
Learning From Your Journal
Personal health journals are a great way to stay organized and keep track of your treatment and health activities in one place. But what you’re also building is a wealth of information and data that can be used to draw important correlations and insights about your health. Here are a few things you can learn:
Patterns and Trends: By tracking symptoms, medications, and lifestyle factors, a personal health journal can help identify patterns or trends that may be impacting your symptoms and how you feel. This can help you identify lifestyle triggers and make helpful adjustments to your care plan.
Progress: A health journal can also help you track your progress towards health goals, such as starting an exercise routine or reducing your blood pressure. By seeing how far you’ve come, you may feel extra motivated to continue making positive changes.
Treatment Effectiveness: By tracking symptoms alongside your medications, a personal health journal can help evaluate the effectiveness of your treatments. This can help you make informed decisions about your care and communicate more effectively with your healthcare providers.
All in all, a personal health journal can be a valuable tool for managing one’s health and improving their wellbeing. Keeping a detailed record of your health status no longer has to be tedious and time-consuming. There are patient tools out there that make it easy to keep a comprehensive health log that allows you to better understand your health. Check out Wave Health App to learn more about its health tracking abilities.
