How Web3 Is Making Me Healthier
I'm using three different Web3 apps at three different maturity stages to improve my health and wellness.
Despite some sleepless nights and stressful days in the bear market, overall, Web3 is making me healthier.
It’s mostly because I’m a simpleton who loves the carrot and stick token earning and gamification mechanics, but it still works!
Beta - STEPN
My first introduction to Play2Earn or, in this case, Move2Earn was STEPN.
I got lured into it by reading the article Nat Eliason wrote on Every where he was earning $357 A DAY walking. After reading this, I immediately started doing my homework and trying to understand if this was too good to be true. At that time, it wasn’t if you had a risk appetite to invest around $3,000 and 20 minutes a day to get outside and walk.
I had the 20 minutes, but not the $3,000.
At that time, SOL was about $100, and there was no convincing the misses this is how we should invest our savings.
I kept passively following STEPN, and it maintained its ROI and payout potential despite inflationary mechanics, so when SOL dropped below $60, I jumped in on May 15th.
At this point, GST, STEPN’s utility token, which you earn on every walk, was still at $3.00. GST is designed to be inflationary, and it is created on each walk, so I knew this value would not hold as the user base grew.
When you first start playing, you’re re-investing all your GST back into the game and leveling up your sneakers, and maybe even mint a shoe to sell or gain more walking energy and earning potential.
This one walk on May 17th was worth $20.79.
As they say, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.”
The Drop.
One month later, GST hit $.25 and, as of today, hovers at about $.05.
I witnessed a panicked community in Discord. I learned about the term FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) through poorly managed communications in AMAs. All this was followed up by perceived cash grabs in new realms and on new chains such as BNB and ETH.
This was my very first important lesson on the risk of crypto projects.
Luckily I risked only what I was willing to lose.
Silver Lining
In March of 2022, I hit an all-time low daily average of 4,220 steps.
The impact of working from home hat hit me square in the face, and STEPN got me outside and moving again. In July, I hit an all-time monthly average of 9,639 steps per day, and I’m on pace for a similar August.
I don’t know how much longer I’ll stay with the project, but I do know it has had a positive impact on my life, and now my pup looks forward to his daily walks with me every morning.
Alpha - Sleepagotchi
Sleeping has become a practice near and dear to my heart.
I went through a personal sleep crisis in 2020, fueled by the stress of a pandemic, raising a toddler, and using alcohol as a coping mechanism. I ended up hiring a sleep coach Mollie McGlocklin from Sleep is a Skill, and established incredibly healthy habits that I rely on to keep my sleep on track.
Enter - Sleepagotchi!
I was lucky enough to win a spot in the alpha tester role and have been playing Sleepagotchi for a week.
My review, I Love It.
Its simplicity in gamifying two of the most important parts of sleep is what is genius.
The goal is to choose a consistent bedtime and wake time and get you to sleep 8 hours to maximize your SHEEP token earning potential. I chose 9:45 pm - 6:00 am, and you better believe, for the first time in my life, I’m consistent with it.
Every morning I’m delighted to open the app, see how well I slept, and collect my SHEEP tokens and NFTs.
The NFTs are a bed, rug, or poster that you can upgrade and trade in the marketplace to increase your SHEEP token earning potential.
Here is what my sleep and scores looked like on Sunday, the 6th.
I love that I didn’t have to do anything extra. It just reinforced good habits through token and earning mechanics. Right now, I’m just using the iOS app through Test Flight, and the token is not yet on-chain.
The Disrupter - ReputableDAO
ReputableDAO is what got me into Web3 and the first DAO I ever joined.
It was the perfect overlap and Venn diagram of two passions colliding together. My bio-hacking curiosity coupled with joining a Web3 DAO and starting to understand this world.
I’ve gotten to see and be a part of building Reputable from the ground up, and we are on the cusp of having a breakthrough in the DeSci movement.
For 42 days this summer, I ran an N-of-1 Power Zone cycling experiment on myself and earned REPT along the way.
I set my baselines and hypothesis and used my Twitter feed to update the community and hold myself accountable.
The best part was that I got healthier, the data showed it, and I earned REPT for my actions.
REPT is currently on the Polygon chain but not yet listed on an exchange.
What’s Next
We are on the cusp of launching our first full-blown cohort experiment around drinking and sleep data run by Dr. Amy Killen.
This is only the beginning of how Web3 can incentivize us all to adopt healthier behaviors.