You use your smartwatch to diligently track your steps, sleep schedule, and exercise habits. But what about your stress levels? More fitness wearables, such as smartwatches and rings, now have stress tracking built-in. If you haven't tried it yet, you may find that additional personal information can help you zero in on what's causing you to feel overwhelmed or burned out, so you can make changes.
Before You Start Paying Attention to Stress Trackers It's important to remember, though , that stress is an extremely personal thing. "Stress tracking is unique in the sense that everyone perceives stress differently," says Dr. Christine Casey, a practicing clinical psychologist who specializes in stress management. You might feel stressed out when going through a breakup or having a big meeting at work, while others might go through these same experiences with ease, Kathy says.
Casey explains that because people have different situations and different personality traits, some people simply handle stress better than others. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to how you feel when analyzing stress data—such as how much stress you perceive, or when environmental stress levels exceed your ability to adapt and cope.
With that in mind, here's everything you need to know about tracking stress levels on a wearable device so you can stay on top of things.
How stress tracking works on smartwatches
If your smartwatch has stress tracking, it'll look at data that shows how well you're doing, such as heart rate variability (HRV) and mobility. HRV is the time difference between each heartbeat and can indicate stress. "HRV can be a useful tool for us to assess the status of the autonomic nervous system," explains Casey.
To review, the autonomic nervous system is divided into two parts: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system is your stress response, kind of like fight or flight, while the parasympathetic nervous system is the opposite. "It manages our relaxation response, which is when our body returns to a state of calm or 'homeostasis,'" says Casey.
Sympathetic nervous system arousal can be indicated by subjective experiences—for example, “I notice that I am having stressful thoughts and emotions right now”—as well as physical markers such as increased heart rate. “This is where HRV comes into play,” explains Casey. Stress Tracker compares these highs and lows to your standards. "If it notices something unusual, it might alert you that your heart rate is too high or too low," she says.
Depending on which smartwatch you have, it may track other things like exercise and mobility, which are measured through steps and workouts. While exercise doesn't necessarily indicate stress, Casey says these are still good numbers to use if you're trying to exercise to improve your health or reduce stress.
How stress tracking works on a smart ring
Many smart ring models offer features that look at key data points such as movement, skin temperature, and heart rate to reveal when your stress levels are high. "You may notice changes in your heart rate throughout the day, which may suggest excitement, stress, or anxiety," says Casey (like what you'd see on a smartwatch).
Casey explains that a smart ring typically measures your body temperature, which can provide more information about your stress levels when the temperature fluctuates. Ever notice that stress makes you feel hot? "When someone is stressed, we notice slight fluctuations in temperature," Casey said. "Of course, this depends on the accuracy of the tracker, but under laboratory conditions we noticed changes in skin temperature of 0.1 or 0.2 degrees Celsius." Casey noted that while this is a small change, it is physiologically responsible for stress. sign because your body temperature is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system.
Stress trackers also tend to pull from your sleep data, since the quality of your sleep is often related to the amount of stress you feel during the day. "We've noticed that people's core temperature drops while they sleep, and we know that sleep helps with memory consolidation, energy restoration and mood regulation," Casey said. "If we don't sleep well, it's likely to affect our stress. If we're stressed, it's likely to affect our sleep."
How to evaluate data
It can be helpful to jot down how you feel throughout the week so you can combine that information with the data collected by your stress tracker. reason? "These tracking devices may be helpful in noticing changes in heart rate or movement," Casey said, "but they don't necessarily indicate stress."
Keep in mind that your heart rate may spike when you feel happy or excited or exercise, so the data doesn't just indicate negative, stressful experiences. If you have notes, you can look back and see that Wednesday's huge spike wasn't due to a stressful moment, but because you ran two miles.
If journaling isn't your thing, you might prefer using an app like Stress AI, which lets you click a box to describe your stress or emotion, Cathy says. "The app captures HRV and resting heart rate (HR), as well as sleep and activity levels, which we know helps with stress management," Casey said.
After about a week of tracking, Casey recommends looking at the information from the wearable device to see if you can spot any patterns. "You might be able to make some connections, which is the most important part," she said.
Casey added that smart watches and rings are still being validated in research, but can provide useful information that you may want to track or take to your therapist or doctor for more insights.
Why you should track your stress levels
While you may not notice daily stress, tracking it allows you to look back and see that you were actually very stressed, such as 4 out of 7 days a week. You can then use this information to see patterns and connections based on what happened during those four days and make more informed decisions about your life based on that, Casey says.
Obviously, there are aspects of your job that cause you stress, or maybe it's your commute or Friday night calls home. "If you don't record your stress, you won't know that your job is causing you stress," says Casey. "You might think it's just your overall view of the world." By tracking your stress and taking notes, you can really zero in on the cause and then do something about it.
If you experience a lot of stress, tracking can also help you understand how it affects your mood, work, relationships and overall well-being, Cathy says. Of course, it’s also good to jot down when you’re not stressed. “That’s equally important,” she added. "What do you do on your less-stressed days?" Answer this question and see if it's possible to incorporate more of it into your life.
Research reference:
Asgari Mehrabadi, M. 2020. Sleep tracking of commercial smart rings and smartwatches compared with medical-grade actigraphy in everyday settings: an instrument validation study. JMIR Mobile Health and uHealth. https://doi.org/10.2196/20465.
Chalmers, T. 2021. Stress watches: Using heart rate and heart rate variability to detect stress: A pilot study using a smartwatch wearable. Sensors (Basel). doi:10.3390/s22010151.
Choi, D. W. (2018). Association between sleep duration and perceived stress: Salaried workers in high workload situations. International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5923838/
Hernando, D. 2018. Validation of Apple Watch measurements of heart rate variability during relaxation and mental stress in healthy subjects. Sensors (Basel). doi:10.3390/s18082619.
Kim, H.G. (2018). Stress and heart rate variability: a meta-analysis and literature review. Psychiatric Investigation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5900369/
Lecic-Tosevski, D. 2011. Stress and personality. Psychology. Phone number: 22271841.
Winks, C. (2013). Effects of stress on core and peripheral body temperature in humans. pressure. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23790072/
Zaccaro, A. 2018. How breath control can change your life: A systematic review of the psychophysiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353.
source:
Dr. Kristen Casey, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
