The Apple Watch can accurately predict stress levels, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo, Canada (via MyHealthyApple).
Using the Apple Watch Series 6's ECG sensor, the researchers found that there was a close association between ECG data, including heart acceleration and deceleration capacity, and participants' reported stress levels at the time the readings were taken. Machine learning algorithms were then developed using this information to create a prediction model.
The stress models are said to have a "high level of precision," but lower recall. The study concludes that the Apple Watch has "promising" potential for stress prediction, and proposes that since the device collects additional health information such as sleep and activity information, even more data points could be integrated into stress models to increase their predictive accuracy.
The researchers postulate that the Apple Watch could be used to aid mental health care, offering activities such as breathing exercises to offset stress signals, responding early to changes in mental health. Competing devices from Samsung, Fitbit, and Garmin have offered a stress score feature for some time, but Apple has yet to implement such a feature in its Health app.
Top Rated Comments
This is one of the most important health metrics it tracks. Another good one related to mental and physical health is “cardio fitness” which is tracked every time you log a walking or running workout. This is a direct measure of how much blood your heart can get to your brain.
I know it worked too because it turned red when I lost my pet rock.
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-3-5g fish oil with at least 200IU vitamin E. Taken with food each day.
-Walking/Running for 1 hour every day (I only started this in September you can see how it really helped HRV, but it’s not the whole picture). I just try to spend 11-20 minutes per day in the max heart rate zone.
-Reduce intake of caffeine and other stimulant drugs that increase the heart rate.
-Increase intake of antioxidant foods.
-Be diligent about mindfulness. You don’t need an app necessarily but I used Headspace. Making sure you aren’t constantly bogged down by negative thoughts is very important for this reflex and for life itself.