Latest news with #Vivosmart4
CNET
10 hours ago
- Health
- CNET
New Study Shows Smartwatch Stress Sensors Have No Idea What They're Doing
You might want to think twice before you put a lot of stock in the latest stress charts from your fitness wearable. A recent study from the Netherlands' Leiden University, published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, has found that when smartwatches and similar devices record readings on stress, fatigue, or sleep, they're frequently getting it wrong. Researchers studied 800 young adults using the same Garmin Vivosmart 4 smartwatch model. They compared the data the smartwatches produced with the reports that the users created four times per day about how sleepy or stressed they were feeling. Lead author and associate professor Eiko Fried said the correlation between the wearable data and the user-created data was, "basically zero." A representative for Garmin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stressed or sex? Your watch doesn't know So why do wearables like fitness smartwatches get it so wrong? Their sensors are fairly limited in what they can do. Watches like these need to be worn correctly at all times (a loose or tight watch may give poor readings, for example), and they typically use basic information like pulse rate and movement to make guesses about health. Those guesses don't always reflect real-world scenarios. A wearable may identify high stress when the real cause of the change was a workout, excitement over good news, or sex. There are so many potential alternatives to stress or fatigue that the watches in the study never really got it right -- and the devices sometimes guessed the complete opposite emotional state from what users recorded. The Dutch study did note that Garmin's Body Battery readings, which specifically measure physical fatigue, were more reliable than stress indicators, but still inaccurate. And sleep sensing performed the best of them all, with Garmin watches showing a two-thirds chance of noting the differences between a good night's sleep and a bad one. It's also worth noting that smartwatch sensors can become more accurate as technology improves. It would be interesting to run a similar study with the much newer Garmin Vivosmart 5 to see if anything has improved, as well as see if other models like the latest versions of the Apple Watch have similar accuracy results.
The Star
3 days ago
- Health
- The Star
Smartwatches may be getting your stress levels wrong, study finds
A new study suggests that when it comes to gauging your psychological state, your wearable might be getting it wrong.— Pixabay For many health-conscious users, a smartwatch is more than just a fitness tracker – it's a daily companion for monitoring everything from heart rate to sleep patterns and stress levels. But a new study suggests that when it comes to gauging your psychological state, your wearable might be getting it wrong. Published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science , the study examined nearly 800 university students wearing the Garmin Vivosmart 4. Participants regularly reported their own emotional states, which were then compared with the stress data recorded by their devices. The result was a striking lack of alignment. "For the majority of individuals in our sample, we found that self-report and physiological measures of stress show very weak to no associations," the authors wrote. "These results raise several questions about differences between data sources and potential measurement issues." Garmin promotes the Vivosmart 4's stress-tracking feature, which uses heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) data to produce a score from 0 to 100. But the company acknowledges that interpreting stress isn't straightforward. On its website, Garmin notes that both public speaking and running up stairs can raise heart rate, but for very different reasons. It recommends wearing the device consistently, particularly during sleep, to improve accuracy. The study adds to a growing body of research questioning the reliability of wearable stress metrics. While the Garmin device underperformed on stress measurement, researchers found it performed well in other areas. Sleep tracking proved highly accurate, although its link to self-reported tiredness was weaker. For now, the findings suggest that while a smartwatch can be a handy tool for tracking fitness or sleep, but its "stress" alerts may need to be taken with a healthy dose of scepticism. – Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates/Tribune News Service
