Interesting you put "eat" here as your first item.
I don't care much about my rating (I play chess to escape stress; not create more of it), but over the last couple years since I started playing, my lichess rating (fluctuating between 1200-1400) appears to have a very strong correlation with my mental health.
Of course it's obvious if you think about it, but it's very odd to have this accurate of an indicator with historical data.
Of course this only really works if you don't actively study to try and get better :)
As you say, you can’t usually “measure” your mental performance. After having this experience, it also explained why I was a more productive programmer in the afternoon (after lunch) and I started eating a light breakfast. My mom wasn’t so dumb after all!
I have learned the same, my mental health strongly correlates with my chess performance. I'm not really good, think 1400 the most, but sometimes I just cruise to my high score and then sometimes I cannot win a game to save me.
I can see big life events in my rating history. (Went on vacation, new relationship, breakup, big project at work, etc). So I actually use it as a barometer. If my rating starts to drop for days on end I know I need to reflect on what's going on in my life.
I don't care much about my rating (I play chess to escape stress; not create more of it), but over the last couple years since I started playing, my lichess rating (fluctuating between 1200-1400) appears to have a very strong correlation with my mental health.
Of course it's obvious if you think about it, but it's very odd to have this accurate of an indicator with historical data.
Of course this only really works if you don't actively study to try and get better :)