Hi all - looking for app recommendations for stress level monitoring? not like workout stress but stress for example at work, home etc - are there any apps that will look at different metrics or is it mostly heart rate levels? thanks
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Watch app for stress level monitoring?
- Thread starter MitzEclipse
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I keep seeing this in my feeds:
apps.apple.com
Welltory: Heart Rate Monitor
Welltory is your personalized health tracker app. Already loved by 10 million users, featured by TechCrunch, Product Hunt, & Lifehacker. We analyze heart rate variability (HRV) — a heart health marker backed by over 20,000 studies on PubMed — to assess your heart health and overall wellness...
apps.apple.com
There are a few different apps available for stress level monitoring on the Apple Watch. My favorite is called "Mindfulness". It's really simple to use and helps you to stay aware of your current stress level so that you can take action to lower it.
Other good options include "Calm" and "Healthy Habits". All of these apps require that you track your stress levels over time, which can help you to identify patterns and figure out what works best for you in terms of reducing stress. Give them a try and see which one works best for you!
Other good options include "Calm" and "Healthy Habits". All of these apps require that you track your stress levels over time, which can help you to identify patterns and figure out what works best for you in terms of reducing stress. Give them a try and see which one works best for you!
I vote for Calm but it does not record pulse but allows to get good meditations, breath meditation, sport ones or coach-meditations (I recommend Camila Cabello 
You can listen this part for free.
www.calm.com
www.calm.com
)
You can listen this part for free.
Breathe Into It, with Camila Cabello
Relax with Calm, a simple mindfulness meditation app that brings clarity and peace of mind into your life
Breathe Into It, with Camila Cabello
Relax with Calm, a simple mindfulness meditation app that brings clarity and peace of mind into your life
I wouldn’t bother with any of the apps that promise to monitor stress with the Apple Watch on a somewhat continuous basis. Resting heart rate is an indicator, but only over a longer period. Measuring HRV (with the breath app or a third part HRV app) directly after waking up and comparing it to your baseline gives some indication of how rested you are, but in itself is not a real indicator of stress. The Apple Watch has limitations as it’s not monitoring your heart rate and HRV on a continuous basis, so apps won’t be able to use this either. Garmin watches do it really well, but they sample every second and use a well tested algorithm on top.
p.s. you can turn AFIB detection on to increase the frequency of HRV readings to every 15/20 minutes. Although this is not sufficient for proper monitoring (it doesn’t correlate with sleep stages, for example), it will give you a better average to compare over time.
In the end, the most sophisticated stress detector is your own body
p.s. you can turn AFIB detection on to increase the frequency of HRV readings to every 15/20 minutes. Although this is not sufficient for proper monitoring (it doesn’t correlate with sleep stages, for example), it will give you a better average to compare over time.
In the end, the most sophisticated stress detector is your own body
Last edited:
OK thanks for the repsonses - I thought there was some type of industry-recognized stress metrics that are used for the watch to monitor stress levels.
It’s funny to me how Calm gets all these famous people, and maybe other apps do it too. I never thought I would be getting meditation guidance from LeBron James for example, or Camila Cabello. I can’t recall the others right now but there’s been quite a few other interesting and sometimes a little bizarre people who read these meditations. 💆🏽♂️I vote for Calm but it does not record pulse but allows to get good meditations, breath meditation, sport ones or coach-meditations (I recommend Camila Cabello
You can listen this part for free.
Breathe Into It, with Camila Cabello
Relax with Calm, a simple mindfulness meditation app that brings clarity and peace of mind into your life
)Breathe Into It, with Camila Cabello
Relax with Calm, a simple mindfulness meditation app that brings clarity and peace of mind into your life
Yeah I agree with this —^I wouldn’t bother with any of the apps that promise to monitor stress with the Apple Watch on a somewhat continuous basis. Resting heart rate is an indicator, but only over a longer period. Measuring HRV (with the breath app or a third part HRV app) directly after waking up and comparing it to your baseline gives some indication of how rested you are, but in itself is not a real indicator of stress. The Apple Watch has limitations as it’s not monitoring your heart rate and HRV on a continuous basis, so apps won’t be able to use this either. Garmin watches do it really well, but they sample every second and use a well tested algorithm on top.
p.s. you can turn AFIB detection on to increase the frequency of HRV readings to every 15/20 minutes. Although this is not sufficient for proper monitoring (it doesn’t correlate with sleep stages, for example), it will give you a better average to compare over time.
In the end, the most sophisticated stress detector is your own body
Noticing current and resting heart rate is a good metric, and the breathing app that comes with the watch is good, and really there’s so many iPhone apps that are good too , but at the same time ….sometimes it stresses me out just trying to use the breathe app because I have to hold my wrist a certain way, and press the watch face correctly, and then I realize I should just use a timer and breathe on my own for like five minutes, and it’s nice to see my heart rate go down when that happens… but also it’s good to keep in mind that sometimes I feel like my heart rate is really high but it’s not, and maybe vice versa.
I think most stress trackers are using HRV at the core. A lower HRV than normal (for you) is generally associated with your autonomous nervous system being overly active, which may be an indication of stress / your body being in recovery mode. HRV measurements however are more tricky to create metric that actually mean something because there are a lot of other variables to take into account. A few more or less random measurements during the night (Apple Watch) without correlation provides just a few random numbers. For example, your HRV naturally varies during the night with different sleep stages, if a tracker can’t sample continuously and relate it to sleep stages (in itself not that accurate) and other variables you end up with nothing.
If Apple wants to step up their game in the health, fitness and training realm, they should develop these kind of metrics themselves and make sure the models are properly tested and verified. I don’t mind using third party apps for trivial stuff, but when it comes to health I don’t want to rely on random developers doing *something* with basic data from the health app. I think stress tracking and training load apps are perfect examples.
Last edited:
AW HRV reading is not good for this. Do 5 minutes of breathing and your HRV can go above 100. 5 minutes didn't magically erase your stress. And it's not grabbed continuously.
As the earlier poster said, Garmin does this much better.
As the earlier poster said, Garmin does this much better.