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In this fast-paced life, stress is a common problem for us. Office deadlines, personal matters, and many other things affect our stress levels daily.
When stress becomes chronic, it can affect our mental and physical health. That’s where “managing low-stress levels” comes into play. But in our busy life, getting out of it is not so easy.
Having continuous stress can lead to anxiety, depression, and even heart disease.
Well, don’t worry, accessories like smart wearables are there to help you manage stress levels. From smartwatches to smart rings multiple options are available in the market to help you manage your stress levels.
As wearable technology is evolving they are getting more accurate in showing your activity and health-related data and suggesting the right things you can do to live healthier life.
In this blog post, let us discuss how to use wearable devices for stress management effectively.
Okay, let’s start this discussion.
What is Stress and How Does it Affect Your Health?
Stress is actually a natural activity of our body. It helps us to get out of difficult situations by activating fight-or-flight responses in our minds.
Let us understand with an example. Suppose, you are walking in a jungle and a Leopard suddenly appears in front of you. In this situation what should you do?
Whether you want to fight with it or you may run away. Your brain recognizes this as a critical situation.
And stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released in your body and your body gets into Alert (stressed) mode.
In this mode, you would feel, physical mental, and behavioral changes such as Headache, muscle tension increased heartbeat, Anxiety, mood swings, etc.
When we do mental work for long sessions, we can feel the same stress during our work. And, this causes serious behavioral and mental changes like Overeating, smoking, alcohol consumption, poor sleep quality.
In the case of an encounter with a leopard getting into stress is good, but during work, stress is bad.
When unrelated, it creates serious health issues.
What is a Smart Wearable Device?
As from the name, a smart wearable device is a gadget that we can wear on our bodies. They have sensors that can track your health metrics such as heart rate, sleep quality, and physical activity.
They help you to achieve your workout goals, receive your phone calls, and even analyze your sleep quality.
There are multiple wearable devices available in the market for stress management such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart rings, and EEG headbands.
These wearables are equipped with advanced sensors and apps that collect your physiological data and give you insights into your health.
How Wearable Devices Help in Monitor Stress Levels
Direct tracking of stress levels can be difficult. That’s why wearable devices use different physiological metrics and combine them to produce stress level data.
Here are some metrics that wearables use to measure stress levels.
- Hearth rate variation: HRV or heart rate variation is the average interval between two heartbeats. Sudden changes in intervals are tracked by wearable devices and with the help of algorithms they track if you are under stress or not.
- Respiratory Rate: Breathing rate is another indicator of stress level. Breathing rate when combined with other metrics, helps to get the right stress level.
- Electrodermal activity: Electrodermal activity or EDA tracks the electrical conductance of your skin which increases and decreases with your stress levels. Some stress management wearables such as Fitbit Sense have EDA sensors that can detect your skin’s electrical conductance.
- Sleep tracking: Sleep tracking is another metric used to measure your stress levels. Poor sleep quality indicates higher stress levels. Wearable devices can track your sleep quality and combine it with other metrics to provide accurate stress levels.
How to Use Wearable Devices for Stress Management?
As I have said above, wearable devices are a very effective and convenient way to manage your stress levels, but only if you use them correctly.
Let’s discuss the ways, how to use wearable devices for stress management effectively so that you can get the best results.
Daily monitoring routine
To get the most out of your variable devices in the context of stress management you need to follow a daily monitoring routine without any skip.
When you monitor your daily morning and evening, HRV and stress score on your wearable device, you will see how it’s working as per your goal.
Also, you will get better insights on how to manage your stress levels.
Follow the instructions
If your wearable device is capable of getting you into some exercises regarding stress management, and it indicates those exercises as per your stress level, you should strictly follow these instructions.
When you follow these instructions, you will see how effectively your stress levels go down immediately, and when you check the insights every month, you will see a decline graph.
When I followed stress-reducing exercises guided by my Samsung watch’s management feature, I saw a declined graph in my monthly analytics chart on the Samsung health app.
That’s the way how wearable device helps you to manage your stress levels.
Guided meditation and breathing exercises
most of the stress management wearables are equipped with a guided breathing exercise feature and some of them are also equipped with guided meditation exercise exercises.
If you follow these exercises, you will see a dramatically declined graph in your stress levels.
These exercises are very effective in stress management.
Sleep Quality
Stress and sleep quality are directly connected. If your sleep is not good, you will be stressed all the time. Poor sleep quality is the main cause of stress.
if you’re wearable has a sleep tracking feature then you should use it to improve your sleep quality, and you will see how your stress levels will reduce with time.
Analysing data on a weekly and monthly basis
You should also analyze your weekly and monthly data insights so that you can get a better insight into your stress levels. Long-term stress level patterns, give you an insight into your stress in a long time duration, which helps you make decisions on your stress level goals.
Physical activity
People who are physically active throughout the day, have always the lowest stress levels.
But if your job is not active, then you must adopt a physically active lifestyle by increasing exercise, running, and some other active sessions like using stairs, and walking around every 30-minute intervals.
These are some very important tips to get the most out of your wearable device in the context of stress management.
How Do I Use My Wearable Device to Manage My Stress?
Two years ago, I bought a Samsung watch 4 which has the stress levels management feature. Actually, I was unaware of this feature and searching for some other.
But I liked the Samsung watch 4 and got it. Whenever I was stressed, it suggested deep breathing and also guided me in that.
I followed these instructions regularly and got a declining graph in my stress levels. This was amazing.
so I think whatever device you choose, you should follow the instructions given by your device, and you will definitely see a reduced graph of your stress levels.
Some Examples of Using Wearable Devices to Manage Stress
Now, let’s discuss some examples of using wearable devices to manage stress.
Example 1
Suppose John is an IT professional who works on the table for hours. Due to this, he is suffering from chronic stress.
He got an Apple Watch Series 10 and started tracking his stress levels on that device. He also followed the mindfulness and HRV exercises guided by his Apple Watch.
With regular meditation sessions and daily monitoring of his stress levels, he got how his chronic stress decreased soon.
Example 2
Olivia is a busy homemaker. She has daily responsibilities and due to them, she is suffering from chronic stress.
She got an Apollo neuro wearable device. This device uses touch therapy to reduce stress levels. When her stress level increased, Apollo Neuro’s touch sense started working and Olivia’s stress levels decreased.
This is really cool as she does not need to follow any exercises. The device itself is capable of reducing stress with test therapy.
Wearable Devices For Stress Management: Accuracy
Now the question arises, are wearable devices accurate for stress management? Well, no, any device is accurate. There are some percentage of errors in their results.
And wearable devices are not out of it. They have minor errors in their data. However, it is seen that they are highly effective in stress management.
As the technology is growing wearable devices are evolving with better hardware and software and at this stage, they are capable of effective stress management.
Types of Wearable Devices
There are many types of wearable devices used for stress management.
Such as smart watches, fitness bands, Smart rings, and even dedicated stress management wearables.
These dedicated stress management wearables like Apollo Neuro are not only capable of analyzing your stress levels but also with touch sense technology to reduce your stress levels without any exercises.
Whatever device you choose to manage your stress levels. You should always follow the instructions given by your device to get maximum results.
Popular Wearable Products With Stress Management Feature
Now, let us discuss some popular wearable products capable of managing your stress.
Apollo Neuro
Apollo Neuro is an amazing variable device to manage your stress levels without doing any exercises. Whenever it detects increased stress levels, it starts the touch sense, which helps you to calm down and reduce your stress levels immediately.
Apollo Neuro is actually built for managing stress levels, so you can call it a dedicated stress management device.
As the company claims you will see 40% lower stress levels and feelings of anxiety, more focus, and concentration, improving sleep quality with increased deep sleep at night.
This is a great device for people suffering from chronic stress.
Oura Ring
This is a smart ring, that you can wear on your finger, and it starts tracking your activities along with your stress levels.
The latest generation of Oura Ring is equipped with HRV monitoring, sleep analysis, and readiness score, which combined get you better analytics of your stress levels.
This smart ring will also suggest some guided stress-relieving exercises such as walking, taking a nap, and guided meditation.
Fitbit Sense 2
Fitbit Sense is mainly an advanced fitness tracking device, which is specially designed for management.
It has EDA sensor for real-time stress monitoring and relaxation feedback. It will give you a daily stress management score by combining HRV, activity, and sleep data.
You will also get guided meditation and deep breathing exercises in this fitness tracker that you can follow to maintain low-stress levels.
Apple Watch Series 10
Apple Watch Series 10 is a premium smartwatch from Apple that has multiple health features and inbuilt stress monitoring tools like Mindfulness, advanced HRV tracking, and other fitness tracking features that help you monitor and maintain your stress levels.
Muse 2 EEG Headband
This is a smart headband that can measure your EEG on the go. EEG or your brain activity provides a better insight into your stress levels.
It gives you real-time feedback and guides you through meditation sessions and mindfulness exercises.
The exercises provided in this headband help reduce stress levels effectively.
Muse 2 is a next-generation wearable device built for mindfulness and meditation exercises.
Wearable Devices for Stress Management: Pros and Cons
Pros
Real-time stress monitoring features
Guided stress-reducing exercises and techniques
Sleep quality improvement
Easy to use
Compact
Activity tracking feature
Cons
Not so accurate
Makes you technology dependent
Future of Wearable Devices in the Health and Wellness Sector
Wearable tech is a growing industry and it is evolving in the future. The future is of wearable technology.
Also, AI is entering the wearable market which will enhance your experience with wearables.
By integration of AI and machine learning in the wearable technology. These devices are becoming more powerful in effective stress management.
Stress reduction exercises, which are guided through AI are very effective and reduce stress during your work throughout the day. The real-time feedback and predictive analytics features make wearable a great solution to maintain your stress levels.
Maybe in the future, wearable devices, replace smartphones, and other handheld devices.
Conclusion
Wearable devices are revolutionary for stress analysis and management. By using these devices, you can accurately monitor and maintain your stress levels.
If you regularly use these devices and follow the instructions given by them such as mindfulness practices, you can effectively improve your health with time.
So adopt wearable devices as your daily accessories because they are the future of health and wellness.
If you have a wearable device and use it to manage your stress levels, then comment below your experience with your device.
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