Bipolar mood tracker: log your mood daily and see your own patterns
Bipolar disorder moves in episodes that last days to weeks. A daily mood log turns those episodes into a picture you and your doctor can read. This guide covers what to track, which early signs matter, and how to set up Pixy as a simple bipolar mood chart.
Last reviewed by the Pixy team. Not medically reviewed. 9 sources.
Pixy is a self-tracking tool, not a medical device or therapy. It cannot diagnose, treat, or monitor any condition. Talk to a doctor or therapist about your symptoms and your care.
If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, get help now. In the US, call or text 988 (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). In the UK, call Samaritans on 116 123. Elsewhere, find a free helpline at findahelpline.com or call your local emergency number.
What bipolar mood looks like over time
Bipolar disorder causes shifts in mood, energy, and activity that come as episodes. A manic episode lasts at least 7 days, or less if it needs hospital care. A depressive episode usually lasts at least 2 weeks.[1]
Hypomania is a milder high. It lasts at least 4 days.[2] Between episodes, stable periods can last weeks, months, or years.[3]
Rapid cycling means four or more episodes of mania or depression in one year.[1]
Lows often take up more time than highs. In a study of 258 outpatients who rated their mood every day for a year, people spent about a third of the year depressed, about three times as long as they spent manic.[4]
Why bipolar moods are hard to see from the inside
Early signs pass unnoticed
Changes often build for days before an episode. In a review of 17 studies, sleep disturbance was the most common early sign of mania. Most people could name at least one early sign once they looked back.[5]
A high can feel like a good week
Hypomania can feel like energy and confidence. Needing little sleep is a typical high-mood symptom.[3] Without a log, it is easy to file it as a great week.
Memory blurs at appointments
A month is hard to recall in a short visit. Low weeks color how you remember the good ones. Daily notes give you facts instead of a guess.
Medication changes need follow-up
Your care team wants to know how your mood changes after a new dose or a new medicine. NICE recommends ongoing monitoring of mood and symptoms during treatment.[6]
What to track with bipolar disorder, and why
- Mood once a day
- The core of a life chart. Daily ratings show the length and depth of each episode.
- Sleep
- Short sleep is the most reported early sign of mania.[5] Note nights with much less or much more sleep than usual.
- Medication taken or missed
- Shows whether changes follow a missed dose or a new prescription.
- Triggers
- Stress, poor sleep, and being too busy can trigger highs and lows.[7]
- Early warning signs
- Your own list, such as racing thoughts, spending, or irritability. NICE asks care plans to name early warning signs and triggers.[6]
How clinicians use mood records
NIMH lists keeping a life chart or mood journal as a way to recognize your mood swings.[1]
The NIMH Life Chart Method rates mood every day by how much it gets in the way of your life. Researchers validated the daily version in 270 people with bipolar disorder.[8]
NICE recommends that psychological care to prevent relapse includes self-monitoring of mood, thoughts, and behavior, plus a plan for early warning signs.[6]
Tracking is not treatment. In the MONARCA II trial, daily smartphone self-monitoring did not reduce depressive or manic symptoms. People who monitored did report higher quality of life and lower stress.[9]
What tracking can look like: a year with bipolar disorder
One made-up year: steady weeks, a hypomanic stretch in March after a few nights of short sleep, a long low in April and May, a medication change, a calm summer, a short high in October, and a low November.
Example: how your entries can look as a trend
This chart is drawn from the made-up entries on this page, using Pixy's colors. Pixy's statistics show a mood chart of your own entries. Pixy does not draw this exact chart, the tag rows below it, or mark episodes. You spot the patterns yourself.
What you can spot in this example
- Short sleep shows up 4 to 5 days before each high. That is the kind of early sign a care plan can name.
- The low lasts about 6 weeks, much longer than the high. Gaps in logging cluster in the low weeks.
- Mood lifts slowly in the weeks after the medication change. A log shows the timeline. Only your doctor can judge the cause.
- Pixy's scale runs from bad to good, so a high and a genuinely good week can share a color. Tags like "short sleep" and "racing thoughts" tell them apart.
How Pixy can help you track bipolar disorder
Pixy is a free, simple mood tracker. It works as a daily bipolar mood chart if you add a few tags.
Tags to create
- short sleepNights well under your usual sleep. The most common early sign of mania.
- long sleepSleeping far more than usual, common in low phases.
- meds takenOr "missed meds" if you prefer to log the exceptions.
- med changeThe day a dose or medicine changes, so you can see what follows.
- racing thoughtsOr any early warning sign on your own list: spending, irritability, talking fast.
Setup and routine
- 1Create the tags above in Settings, Tags. Add the early warning signs from your care plan.
- 2Turn on the daily reminder and pick a time you are usually free, such as after dinner.
- 3Rate your mood once a day, at the same time. Add tags in one tap. Write a note if something stands out, such as how many hours you slept.
- 4Check Year in Pixels in the yearly report each month. Long runs of one color are the episodes.
- 5Filter the calendar by a tag such as "short sleep" to see when it happens.
- 6Before an appointment, open the monthly report or Year in Pixels and show it on your phone, or take screenshots. Pixy has no printable report.
- 7Export your data now and then. Entries live only on your phone, with no cloud backup. The export is a JSON file, useful as a backup or for moving to a new phone.
What Pixy cannot do
- Pixy rates mood from extremely bad to extremely good. It has no separate scales for depressed, elevated, irritable, or anxious mood, as some bipolar trackers do.
- Pixy has no clinical scores, no sleep log, no medication reminders, and no PDF report for your doctor.
- Pixy cannot tell you that an episode is starting. Agree with your care team what to do when your early signs appear.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Pixy is a self-tracking tool, not a medical device or therapy. It cannot diagnose, treat, or monitor any condition. Talk to a doctor or therapist about your symptoms and your care.
If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, get help now. In the US, call or text 988 (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). In the UK, call Samaritans on 116 123. Elsewhere, find a free helpline at findahelpline.com or call your local emergency number.
Sources
Facts on this page come from these sources. Numbers in brackets link here.
- Bipolar Disorder. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), revised 2025.
- Bipolar Disorders (professional version). MSD Manual, W. Coryell, reviewed January 2026.
- Bipolar disorder: Symptoms. NHS, reviewed 28 October 2024.
- Morbidity in 258 bipolar outpatients followed for 1 year with daily prospective ratings on the NIMH Life Chart Method. Post RM et al., Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 64(6), 2003.
- A systematic review of manic and depressive prodromes. Jackson A, Cavanagh J, Scott J, Journal of Affective Disorders 74(3), 2003.
- Bipolar disorder: assessment and management (CG185), Recommendations. NICE, last updated 2 September 2025.
- Living with bipolar disorder. NHS, reviewed 28 October 2024.
- Validation of the prospective NIMH-Life-Chart Method (NIMH-LCM-p) for longitudinal assessment of bipolar illness. Denicoff KD et al., Psychological Medicine 30(6), 2000.
- The effect of smartphone-based monitoring on illness activity in bipolar disorder: the MONARCA II randomized controlled single-blinded trial. Faurholt-Jepsen M et al., Psychological Medicine 50(5), 2020.
Guides for other conditions
- DepressionSee slow progress that is hard to feel day to day, and keep tracking on low-energy days.
- AnxietyFind which days and triggers make anxiety spike, from work to caffeine.
- ADHDCatch fast mood shifts within a day with several quick check-ins.
- BPDLog intense mood shifts hour by hour, next to your DBT diary card.
- PMDDRate every day for two cycles and line your mood up with a period tag.
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