Wearables can’t predict stress.
This ✨⌚️Wearable Wednesday,⌚️✨ I’m hopping on my soapbox.
Wearable companies: Stop saying you can predict stress levels/uncover early indicators of stress/detect stress before it happens. 🛑
You can’t.
That’s not how physiological stress works.
You may be able to tell when someone is at an *increased risk* of experiencing higher-than-normal stress reactivity—though I haven’t seen that even being discussed.
Or you may be able to detect when someone is in a stressed state—though that’s not straightforward. (In fact, it’s pretty darn difficult.)
But please, for the love of science, do not assume you can predict a stress response. There is NO way to predict what will happen on any given day or how someone will react to something cognitively or emotionally. There are simply too many factors that influence the stress response that you cannot measure.
I’m all for wearable and wellness companies tracking and trying to intervene on stress levels—stress is a huge issue and super impactful on health. It’s also super complicated. So make sure you have someone on your team who is a real expert in stress science. If nothing else, hire them as a consultant to review your language to make sure it’s reflecting what your product actually does.
When you don’t have a stress scientist on your team but you try to market a stress-focused feature, it shows.
👋 I'm Lydia Roos, health psychologist, stress and wellbeing scientist, and Founder of EvolveWell Research Partners.
📌 EvolveWell offers specializes in conducting research for mental and physical health, wellness, and fitness companies on a project, fractional, or advisory basis. [evolvewellresearch.com]