Author : Kailash Subramaniyam

Type : Tool

Progress : Prototype…

Imagine a tool that tracks your mental and emotional health with the same precision as a fitness tracker monitors your physical activity. That’s the vision behind Neuropulse—a theoretical tool in development that aims to apply the principles of physical health tracking to our mental well-being. By journaling daily experiences and emotions, Neuropulse uses AI to analyze and provide insights into our psychological patterns.

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Did you know?

The first methodical calorie counting appeared in the early 20th century, but it wasn’t until mobile technology advanced that these metrics could be easily tracked every day, revolutionizing personal health management. One of the earliest and most widely recognized apps is MyFitnessPal, which launched its mobile application in 2009.

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Similarly, Neuropulse seeks to harness current AI technologies to bridge the gap between our expanding psychological understanding and practical daily application. This prototype aims to make comprehensible the complex interplay of emotions and actions in a way that’s accessible and actionable for everyday use. Neuro Pulse is like a fitness tracker for your emotions. Instead of counting steps or reps, it tracks your daily moods.

The intuition behind this project

Below is a real picture of a human brain. While all human brains may look physically similar, containing roughly 100 billion neurons, each person's neural pathways and emotional responses are uniquely shaped by their life experiences.

brain.webp

                                                           **Picture of real human brain**

Think of your brain like a vast city's transportation network. While all cities have roads and traffic signals, the flow of traffic (like your neural signals) develops distinct patterns based on how people actually use those roads over time. Your emotional responses and habits are like these established traffic patterns - they become your brain's preferred routes for processing experiences.

stravaheatmap_1.jpg

                                              **Strava Labs Heatmap of Runners – London**

Here's what makes this fascinating:

  1. Your brain communicates through chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) much like how your smartphone sends digital signals. When you feel joy, it's actually a surge of dopamine. When you're stressed, it's a cocktail of cortisol and other chemicals.
  2. Your brain doesn't think in terms of "good" or "bad" - it responds to intensity and repetition. This explains why both positive habits (like exercise) and negative ones (like addictions) can become deeply ingrained - they're both just well-traveled neural pathways.
  3. We're in an era where we have incredible tools to measure nearly everything in our lives - from our steps to our sleep quality to our heart rate variability. Yet we lack sophisticated tools to track our most important asset: our mental well-being.