Understanding Your Signals

What are signals?

Signals are insights that NeuroSpicy generates from your check-in data. They analyze your energy and mood patterns and tell you things like: is burnout approaching? Is your mood protecting your energy or draining it? Are your cycles getting more predictable?

There are 19 signals in total. They range from simple snapshots (your current energy level) to complex pattern analysis (comparing your recent variability to your historical baseline). Each one is grounded in ADHD and neuroscience research.

How signals unlock

Signals don't all appear on day one. They unlock as you build up enough data for meaningful analysis:

Milestone	What unlocks
Day 1	Current Energy, Current Mood, Current Phase
Day 7	Burnout Risk, Peak Window, Dip Window, Mood Shield, Mood Drift, Log Streak
Day 14	Stability Index, Baseline Drift, Energy Drift
Day 21	Day-of-Week Pattern, Weekend Pattern
Day 28+	Cycle Trend, Dip Pattern, Recovery Pace, Rest Payoff

Each signal tells you when it will unlock and how close you are. Signals that don't have enough data yet appear dimmed with a message like "Unlocks at 7 days."

Where to find them

Signals live on your Trends page. They're organized into sections:

• Key Signals at the top: Current Phase, Burnout Risk, Stability Index. These are the ones to check daily.
• Signal Grid below: All 19 signals in a compact grid. Tap any signal's info icon for a quick explanation of what it measures.

When a signal detects something worth your attention, it surfaces as an Insight at the top of the Trends page with a specific observation and recommendation.

How to read them

Each signal card shows three things:

1. The label: What the signal measures (e.g., "Burnout Risk")
2. The value: The current reading (e.g., "Medium" or "Improving")
3. The description: A short explanation of what that value means

Values are color-coded:

• Green means things are looking good (low risk, improving, resilient)
• Amber/yellow means something to watch (moderate risk, caution, change detected)
• Red means something needs attention (high risk, shifting, both dropping)
• Gray means neutral or not enough data

The signals that matter most

All 19 signals are useful, but three deserve your daily attention:

Burnout Risk tells you when you're approaching the point where your energy has historically shifted. It compares your current charged streak to your personal average. When it says "High," it's time to ease up.

Mood Shield tracks whether your mood is supporting your energy or slipping ahead of it. If you see "Dipping," your mood is dropping ahead of your energy, which often means a dip is 1-2 days away.

Regulation tells you whether your energy is getting more or less predictable. "Improving" means your routines are working. "Shifting" means something is disrupting your patterns.

Signals are personal

Every signal is calibrated to your data, not a population average. When Burnout Risk says "High," it means high relative to your history, not some generic threshold. Someone who typically runs 3-day charged phases will get a different warning point than someone who runs 7-day phases.

This is important because ADHD energy patterns vary enormously from person to person. What's normal for you might be unusual for someone else. NeuroSpicy learns your patterns and measures against them.

Tips for using signals

• Check Trends daily. Signals update with every check-in. A quick glance at Key Signals takes five seconds and tells you where you stand.
• Pay attention to Insights. When a signal surfaces as an Insight, it means something has changed. Read the recommendation.
• Watch for patterns over weeks, not days. A single "Medium" burnout risk isn't alarming. Seeing it climb from Low to Medium to High over three days is.
• Use signals to plan, not to worry. The point isn't to be anxious about your energy. It's to have information so you can make better decisions about what to take on and when to rest.

Sources

1. Castellanos, F.X., et al. (2011). "Intraindividual variability in ADHD and its implications for research of causal links." Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences. PubMed 21769722
2. Barkley, R.A. (1997). "Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD." Psychological Bulletin. PubMed 9000892
3. Surman, C.B.H., et al. (2023). "Evidence of emotion dysregulation as a core symptom of adult ADHD: A systematic review." Clinical Psychology Review. PMC9821724