Every time one of these articles comes up, the author posts blood tests, 'health screening results', and bizarre plots from sleep EEG machines. These are all worse than useless.
Because there is only one sample. You have no way of disentangling the effect of the condition being tested, from the effect of everything else. You'd need like a hundred people for that. There are never 100 people.
For the past month, I've added shoulder stands to my workout, and also been feeling really energetic. It would appear they are amazing. That, or it's due to the weather being sunnier, and being on a nice project at work. I bet a blood test would show my cortizol levels are lower, which would give this headstand thing the appearance of science.
These N=1, test my blood, wear a skin salinity tracker for no reason experiments are playing at science, rather than achieving science. Like paintball is expensive but still doesn't kill people.
If this guy wants to write about his subjective experience of doing situps while doing sitdowns, it's not any less scientific for lack of a blood test.
Because there is only one sample. You have no way of disentangling the effect of the condition being tested, from the effect of everything else. You'd need like a hundred people for that. There are never 100 people.
For the past month, I've added shoulder stands to my workout, and also been feeling really energetic. It would appear they are amazing. That, or it's due to the weather being sunnier, and being on a nice project at work. I bet a blood test would show my cortizol levels are lower, which would give this headstand thing the appearance of science.
These N=1, test my blood, wear a skin salinity tracker for no reason experiments are playing at science, rather than achieving science. Like paintball is expensive but still doesn't kill people.
If this guy wants to write about his subjective experience of doing situps while doing sitdowns, it's not any less scientific for lack of a blood test.