Track stress with Apple Watch – is the wearable ready?

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A new study has been published that demonstrates Apple Watch has the accuracy with its heart rate sensor to help users track stress. Fortunately, while we wait to see if Apple will launch a native stress monitoring experience, its wearable already tracks an important stress-related metric that third-party apps are already using.

An under-the-radar feature, Apple Watch already monitors heart rate variability (HRV) which is a valuable metric to understand and track. However, Apple doesn’t use the data for native stress level monitoring like Fitbit or other competitors.

Here’s how the Cleveland Clinic summarizes HRV:

“Your heart’s variability reflects how adaptable your body can be. If your heart rate is highly variable, this is usually evidence that your body can adapt to many kinds of changes. People with high heart rate variability are usually less stressed and happier.”

In a new study spotted by MyHealthyApple (via MacRumors), researchers found that Apple Watch is indeed precise enough to monitor stress. The study used six ECG readings per day with participants to create their HRV measurements which were used to discern their stress levels.

“The researchers found that “In general, the “stress” models had a high level of precision but lower recall. The “no stress” models performed generally well with a recall typically above 60%. Considering the ultra-short duration of the ECG measurements performed here compared to the standard, as well as the nature of real-life measurements, the results presented were quite promising.”

The study also noted that Apple Watch tracking sleep and activity in addition to heart rate measurements could enhance a stress monitoring experience.

Track stress with Apple Watch: 3 apps to try

If you’re interested to use Apple Watch to better understand your stress levels now, there are a few great options.

First, you can see your HRV history right now if you head to the Health app on iPhone > Browse > Heart > Heart Rate Variability. Check out the 6M or year trend. Generally speaking, an upward trend can correlate to less stress and a downward trend can mean greater stress.

To leverage HRV day-to-day to better understand your stress, these are three great apps to try out. The first two are more focused on fitness and stress, but all of them help you understand your daily stress better:

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