Stress Watch: The Use of Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability to Detect Stress: A Pilot Study Using Smart Watch Wearables

Taryn Chalmers; Blake Anthony Hickey; Phillip Newton; Chin-Teng Lin; David Sibbritt; Craig S McLachlan; Roderick Clifton-Bligh; John Morley; Sara Lal

doi:10.3390/s22010151

Stress Watch: The Use of Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability to Detect Stress: A Pilot Study Using Smart Watch Wearables

Sensors (Basel). 2021 Dec 27;22(1):151. doi: 10.3390/s22010151.

Authors

Taryn Chalmers¹, Blake Anthony Hickey¹, Phillip Newton², Chin-Teng Lin³, David Sibbritt⁴, Craig S McLachlan⁵, Roderick Clifton-Bligh⁶, John Morley⁷, Sara Lal¹

Affiliations

¹ Neuroscience Research Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
² School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia.
³ Australian AI Institute, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁴ School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁵ Centre for Healthy Futures, Torrens University, Sydney, NSW 2009, Australia.
⁶ School of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁷ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2747, Australia.

Abstract

Stress is an inherent part of the normal human experience. Although, for the most part, this stress response is advantageous, chronic, heightened, or inappropriate stress responses can have deleterious effects on the human body. It has been suggested that individuals who experience repeated or prolonged stress exhibit blunted biological stress responses when compared to the general population. Thus, when assessing whether a ubiquitous stress response exists, it is important to stratify based on resting levels in the absence of stress. Research has shown that stress that causes symptomatic responses requires early intervention in order to mitigate possible associated mental health decline and personal risks. Given this, real-time monitoring of stress may provide immediate biofeedback to the individual and allow for early self-intervention. This study aimed to determine if the change in heart rate variability could predict, in two different cohorts, the quality of response to acute stress when exposed to an acute stressor and, in turn, contribute to the development of a physiological algorithm for stress which could be utilized in future smartwatch technologies. This study also aimed to assess whether baseline stress levels may affect the changes seen in heart rate variability at baseline and following stress tasks. A total of 30 student doctor participants and 30 participants from the general population were recruited for the study. The Trier Stress Test was utilized to induce stress, with resting and stress phase ECGs recorded, as well as inter-second heart rate (recorded using a FitBit). Although the present study failed to identify ubiquitous patterns of HRV and HR changes during stress, it did identify novel changes in these parameters between resting and stress states. This study has shown that the utilization of HRV as a measure of stress should be calculated with consideration of resting (baseline) anxiety and stress states in order to ensure an accurate measure of the effects of additive acute stress.

Keywords: FitBit; anxiety; depression; heart rate variability; smart technology; stress; wearable device.

MeSH terms

Biofeedback, Psychology*
Fitness Trackers*
Heart Rate
Humans
Mental Health
Pilot Projects

Grants and funding

DINPP2019 S1-06/NSW Defence Innovation Network and NSW State Government