With its ECG functionality, the Apple Watch might predict stress (or rather non-stress), but would we really want such a thing?
There is a feature on theApple Watch which has been thought out and designed to detect your stress. A new study claims that it not only detects your stress, but also predicts it. Or rather, your Apple can predict when you won’t be stressedwhich can be stressful.
With its ECG functionality, the Apple Watch might predict stress (or rather non-stress)
Existing functionality allows owners toApple Watch perform an electrocardiogram (ECG) with the dedicated app. This is to record the rate and strength of your heartbeat. This is a test doctors most often do to find irregularities. According to Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, doctors routinely use ECGs to perform stress tests. It is therefore not surprising that Apple uses the possibilities of the ECG in this new technology.
“The ECG app can record your heartbeat and rhythm via the dedicated sensor on Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, or Ultra and then analyze the recording for atrial fibrillation (AFib ), a form of irregular rhythm,” according to Apple. “The ECG app records an electrocardiogram that represents the electrical impulses that make your heart beat. The ECG app analyzes these pulses to get your heart rhythm and see if the upper and lower chambers of your heart are in rhythm. If not, it might be a sign of AFib.”
No one knows how useful the Apple Watch’s ECG might be for tracking stress, but a new study claims that it — along with other Apple Watch metrics — can serve as a basic stress detector. stress and can even be used as a stress predictor. According to the study published in the journal Frontiers in Digital Health“current models are very specific, predicting ‘unstressed’ states relatively well, [mais] they still lack the predictive power to accurately predict ‘stress’ states.”
“Overall, the results presented here suggest that, with further development and refinement, sensor data ECG of the Apple Watch might be used as a tool for predicting stress”, can we read. “A wearable device capable of monitoring stress continuously and in real time would allow individuals to respond quickly to changes in their mental health. In addition, large-scale data collection via such devices might serve to inform the public.”
but would we really want such a thing?
But all this stress data might just be stressing us out more. Lindsey Rosman, a psychologist and assistant professor of cardiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had discovered the existence of a 70-year-old woman with atrial fibrillation who performed regarding 1,000 ECGs on her watch each year. The extensive testing, and the anxiety over the results, had “a profoundly negative impact on his mental health, his relationships and his quality of life.”
It’s a drastic example, sure, of how technology can increase our stress, but it’s not an isolated incident. Another study from the University of Copenhagen concluded that prompting Fitbit trackers to go for a walk, for example, was a source of stress more than anything else for many users.
