Good experiments reduce guesswork. Great experiments change decisions.
Best for obvious acute effects (e.g., caffeine timing → sleep latency), but highly confounded.
If the effect appears and disappears with the intervention, confidence rises quickly.
Alternate conditions in random order (e.g., supplement vs placebo, or two doses) with washouts as needed.
Reporting note
Formal N-of-1 trials have established reporting guidance (CONSORT extension / CENT). We adapt the same mindset: define outcomes, design, and analysis up front to avoid “storytelling with data.”[1]
Keep these as stable as possible:
Safety rule
If you develop concerning symptoms, stop the experiment and see Red Flags.
| Field | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Goal | (e.g., improve sleep latency) |
| Primary metric | (e.g., sleep latency minutes, averaged weekly) |
| Secondary metrics | (e.g., total sleep time, next-day energy) |
| Intervention | (exact dose/parameters, timing, brand/device) |
| Design | ABAB / crossover |
| Total duration | (e.g., 6 weeks) |
| Washout | (yes/no; length) |
| Decision rule | (e.g., continue if latency ↓ ≥15 min with no next-day grogginess) |
| Stop rule | (symptoms, BP threshold, abnormal labs, etc.) |
| Date | Sleep | Energy | Mood | Training | Intervention | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YYYY‑MM‑DD |
Shamseer L, Sampson M, Bukutu C, et al. CONSORT extension for reporting N-of-1 trials (CENT) 2015: Explanation and elaboration. BMJ. 2015;350:h1793. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25962917/ ↩︎