The stress level feature on Garmin’s stress level accurately uses heart-rate variability to assess a person’s stress levels. This metric provides a snapshot of the state of an individual’s body over the course of a day and can help individuals identify periods of elevated stress and employ calming strategies such as deep breathing. The feature also offers distress alerts which notify users when their heart rate is too high.
The accuracy of the Garmin stress level is quite good. The device takes into account the person’s resting heart rate to establish a baseline and then evaluates current data against it. However, it does not take into account the effects of certain activities on one’s stress levels such as waiting in traffic or having a big meeting. It is also not a diagnostic tool and is most accurate when used in conjunction with other health-related metrics such as blood pressure and skin temperature.
Navigating Stress in the Digital Age: A Closer Look at Garmin’s Stress Level Accuracy
The Garmin stress level feature shows the user their current stress score on their watch and in the Garmin Connect app. Color coding is an easy way to identify the user’s stress levels. The orange bars indicate stress and the blue bars indicate calmness. The metric also displays the percentage of time spent in each state. For example, a higher reading indicates that more time was spent in the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) branch of the ANS while a lower reading suggests the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) branch was active. The metric does not reveal why these various states occur, but it can be helpful in developing awareness of common stressors.