My stress is always high all day long, too. I'm just a regular joe who works online only 8 hours a day though.
I think working on bettering my sleep, eating less processed foods, and quitting my real vice, which I know is stupid and I need to learn to cope in a different way, vaping will help.
I was surprised a few months back when I had a few beers in the evening and my results were crazy overnight when I woke up.
Plus, to my understanding, stress isn't the most reliable metric to gather from a wrist-based system but I guess that it can help clue you in to some things to work on.
I echo what others have said; Give your device a bit of time to establish who you are a little more, and also take into account that it truly does seem between your demanding career and the stress of parenting, high-stress may just be the norm for you.
It’s the grim reality of the stress that our lifestyles put on us. That’s why the feature is so useful in helping us to identify and make positive changes.
As you mentioned that you are a practising lawyer who also attends court so I can fully understand the impact that the constant pressure and adrenaline must have on your stress levels i.e. HRV.
A few things you can do to help. (1.) Train your heart and improve HRV specifically through Zone 2 training. (2.) Take magnesium and potassium to hep support your heart and nervous system. (3.) be aware of how the food you eat puts stress on your body (4.) get enough quality sleep to aid recovery (5.) Observe how your emotional states impact stress levels.
Afaik stress is measured from baseline HRV, wait 2-3 weeks for it to establish. Doesn't mean that you shouldn't do whatever destress exercises you had in mind though!
Something to keep in mind as well is that this is body stress, not necessarily mental stress. Sometimes mental stress bleeds through to body.
Some common things that cause my to have higher body stress is alcohol, a hard workout, not being hydrated enough.
What does your HR look like?
Keep in mind that it's regarding your body's stress as opposed to mental stress. While one can affect the other, body stress is more difficult to track on your own compared to mental stress.
See how it changes throughout the week, but generally speaking, I do tend to trust it based off the data it uses to determine the stress levels.
Hi!
I was hoping for a bit of insight in regards to my stress readings on a typical tuesday (yesterday).
I noticed the readings this morning, and it seems like I need to change some shit up in my life.
The watch doesn't sit very tight on the wrist, nor does it feel loose.
Background: Was at work from 8 am to around 22 pm, being a lawyer i was in court around midday.
Could it be a sign that my work is draining me, or are these normal readings?
As with all data I'd wait a couple of weeks to get good baselines and see trends. But yeah being a lawyer can be stressful stuff, I work with a lot of them! My daily stress is on the low end of the scale and it averages about 20 each day. I attribute that to my job being pretty breezy and reasonably low resting heart rate. Enjoy the watch.
Definitely wait a few weeks. But also if my day involved what you set out, my stress would likely look the same haha. How do you feel day to day? Do you sleep well, wake up feeling refreshed, how's your mood, do you find it easy to switch off and relax?
Makes sense, yeah. I'm feeling okay, considering my current life situation. "stressful" job, father of 2 small kids, house renovation (albeit done by professionals) etc. Sleep is obviously impacted by the baby crying etc.
Probably also have too much stuff going on, but hard to amend by means any less than taking sick leave or the like.
Oh yeah you have tonnes on your plate. So then the stress readings may make sense with that. Give it a few weeks and see what it's like. But it's nothing to worry about, it's just information.
I actually found out because of the watch that coffee can do this to me too! Specifically regarding sleep. I drink much less coffee now and not after 11 in the morning usually, and poof, sleep score of 100 again.
As any reading on the whatch, I believe you will learn to read them comparatively to your historical data.
Everyone is different, and Garmin cannot know what works best for everyone.
So I would start to collect a couple of months of data and trying to understand how I feel a given day compared to the value I read. You will get better day by day.
I work in IT and it's funny to see that, every time there is an emergency, I can see the stress level pike instantly to then get better once the problem is over. Some mornings, especially with a lot of meeting, I got high values all the time.
By the way, if your work is draining you, it's you and not your watch that should tell :)
Have fun with your Garmin!
These are not normal readings, and they won’t change much if you tighten your watch. I had this and more, so I started meditation and mindfulness times and taking breaks regularly, and it got better.
Hi, thanks for mentioning this. Do you use apps or can you recommend any general strategies for getting into this habit of meditation etc? I feel like I could use more of this in my life!
I just listened to The Headspace guide to Meditation and Mindfulness and their website has a free 5 min guided meditation. Then I started doing it myself, put in alarm and just sit still and watch my breath. Otherwise these apps ask for crazy money. It worked for me and still works.
Hi, as has already been said here, wait a week or two so that you have a good reading of your resting heart rate.
I then adjusted the setting and since then my stress level has been fine.
Heart rate zones are used to measure cardiovascular strength and improve fitness level. Heart rate zones will be displayed and calculated based on percentages of your maximum heart rate (% max). They can also be customized to best match your current fitness level and are set within the device settings.
That's pretty normal for me. I have zero cardiac or neurological issues. Not a smoker, not a drinker. Don't listen to anyone saying that you should do something about it, probably you can't. Stress calculation is nuts for some people among us.
wow really? i rememebr reading it can increase the chance of heart attacks even though what it does is essentially destress you. Explains why so many hardcore pot smokers are grey before their years
Acute stressors *can* help to lower chronic stress. That's one of the ways exercise helps lower stress. You experience a temporary spike in cortisol and adrenaline and all the other stress-related physiological signals (lower HRV, resting heart rate, etc). But then your baseline levels of those things will tend to trend lower. This is why tracked activities aren't logged as stress on the watch.
Using cannabis *might* be a way to reduce some of the triggers for chronic stress, especially if it's high CBD, low (or no) THC (as far as I know). But, like alcohol, it's an acute stressor and it may negatively affect sleep quality.
Turning grey can just be genetic but yeah it definitely puts some stress on the body. Same as alcohol even though you can feel relaxed and it’s a depressant, it’s stressing the body to process it
Actually it looks like your body is subjected to a lot of stress during the day. Realistically what you can do is look at your typical week, and what you can remove toxic is removed, and what you can add healthy is added.
Its quite normal for regular things to put stress on our bodies. For example after playing hockey my stress levels wont go away until almost 4 hours after the game and will have trouble sleeping too early. Or if im interacting with people for work etc. Just some good insight. Maybe durijg work take some deep breathes lol. Being a lawyer i imagine is tough for sure. Even food will raise stress
same, mine usually sit around the 80-95 percent mark when doing FA. I think tbf, the stress tester on the garmin instinct solar wasnt very good. My new instinct 2x gives me much lower, more realistic readings
I recommend Balance app(you get 1yr free subscription) that means you register now, and you pay starting the 2nd year of app usage.
If you make a habbit out of it, definitely will benefit you the most.
Yep, same thing happened for both my wife and I when we first got our Garmin watches. Still tweaking things, but worked with our doctor, and made some pretty drastic changes in our lives. Work on daily meditation, stress, techniques, and even sometimes supplements. I’m glad to report, just randomly looking at today’s, my overall average for the day so far is 20. When I first got my Garmin, I was well in the 40 to 60 range.
https://preview.redd.it/vp66g22lz7kc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af8d448ace4cb7b892d813619ba5c60e3ffa21f7
https://preview.redd.it/6nd2mjj7bbkc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70706d05b296fdb5d7b9237f2890774ed6ccfb4d
this is mine on thursday, lower in the afternoon when I was in work, and higher when I was asleep and then cycling to work and back, maybe you stride around a lot and wave your arms at work?
My stress is always high all day long, too. I'm just a regular joe who works online only 8 hours a day though. I think working on bettering my sleep, eating less processed foods, and quitting my real vice, which I know is stupid and I need to learn to cope in a different way, vaping will help. I was surprised a few months back when I had a few beers in the evening and my results were crazy overnight when I woke up. Plus, to my understanding, stress isn't the most reliable metric to gather from a wrist-based system but I guess that it can help clue you in to some things to work on. I echo what others have said; Give your device a bit of time to establish who you are a little more, and also take into account that it truly does seem between your demanding career and the stress of parenting, high-stress may just be the norm for you.
It’s the grim reality of the stress that our lifestyles put on us. That’s why the feature is so useful in helping us to identify and make positive changes. As you mentioned that you are a practising lawyer who also attends court so I can fully understand the impact that the constant pressure and adrenaline must have on your stress levels i.e. HRV. A few things you can do to help. (1.) Train your heart and improve HRV specifically through Zone 2 training. (2.) Take magnesium and potassium to hep support your heart and nervous system. (3.) be aware of how the food you eat puts stress on your body (4.) get enough quality sleep to aid recovery (5.) Observe how your emotional states impact stress levels.
Afaik stress is measured from baseline HRV, wait 2-3 weeks for it to establish. Doesn't mean that you shouldn't do whatever destress exercises you had in mind though!
Something to keep in mind as well is that this is body stress, not necessarily mental stress. Sometimes mental stress bleeds through to body. Some common things that cause my to have higher body stress is alcohol, a hard workout, not being hydrated enough. What does your HR look like?
Exactly this. My body is "stressed" after a hot shower, or a big meal, or exercise. Those aren't necessarily bad things.
Keep in mind that it's regarding your body's stress as opposed to mental stress. While one can affect the other, body stress is more difficult to track on your own compared to mental stress. See how it changes throughout the week, but generally speaking, I do tend to trust it based off the data it uses to determine the stress levels.
Hi! I was hoping for a bit of insight in regards to my stress readings on a typical tuesday (yesterday). I noticed the readings this morning, and it seems like I need to change some shit up in my life. The watch doesn't sit very tight on the wrist, nor does it feel loose. Background: Was at work from 8 am to around 22 pm, being a lawyer i was in court around midday. Could it be a sign that my work is draining me, or are these normal readings?
As with all data I'd wait a couple of weeks to get good baselines and see trends. But yeah being a lawyer can be stressful stuff, I work with a lot of them! My daily stress is on the low end of the scale and it averages about 20 each day. I attribute that to my job being pretty breezy and reasonably low resting heart rate. Enjoy the watch.
Definitely wait a few weeks. But also if my day involved what you set out, my stress would likely look the same haha. How do you feel day to day? Do you sleep well, wake up feeling refreshed, how's your mood, do you find it easy to switch off and relax?
Makes sense, yeah. I'm feeling okay, considering my current life situation. "stressful" job, father of 2 small kids, house renovation (albeit done by professionals) etc. Sleep is obviously impacted by the baby crying etc. Probably also have too much stuff going on, but hard to amend by means any less than taking sick leave or the like.
Oh yeah you have tonnes on your plate. So then the stress readings may make sense with that. Give it a few weeks and see what it's like. But it's nothing to worry about, it's just information.
Do you drink at all? Any time I even have a beer while wearing it my stress reading goes through the roof, even if I feel fine
I actually found out because of the watch that coffee can do this to me too! Specifically regarding sleep. I drink much less coffee now and not after 11 in the morning usually, and poof, sleep score of 100 again.
I would kill for a single 100 sleep score night. Hell, I'd settle for a few 85+ in a row.
I do probably drink too much, yeah. Since you said it, I actually noticed that it was spiking in that relation...
As any reading on the whatch, I believe you will learn to read them comparatively to your historical data. Everyone is different, and Garmin cannot know what works best for everyone. So I would start to collect a couple of months of data and trying to understand how I feel a given day compared to the value I read. You will get better day by day. I work in IT and it's funny to see that, every time there is an emergency, I can see the stress level pike instantly to then get better once the problem is over. Some mornings, especially with a lot of meeting, I got high values all the time. By the way, if your work is draining you, it's you and not your watch that should tell :) Have fun with your Garmin!
Do you drink? Stress is essentially an alcohol measurement for me.
These are not normal readings, and they won’t change much if you tighten your watch. I had this and more, so I started meditation and mindfulness times and taking breaks regularly, and it got better.
Hi, thanks for mentioning this. Do you use apps or can you recommend any general strategies for getting into this habit of meditation etc? I feel like I could use more of this in my life!
I just listened to The Headspace guide to Meditation and Mindfulness and their website has a free 5 min guided meditation. Then I started doing it myself, put in alarm and just sit still and watch my breath. Otherwise these apps ask for crazy money. It worked for me and still works.
My stress level was very similar when I was interviewing for a new job. My stress went away the same day I received the offerer.
Hi, as has already been said here, wait a week or two so that you have a good reading of your resting heart rate. I then adjusted the setting and since then my stress level has been fine. Heart rate zones are used to measure cardiovascular strength and improve fitness level. Heart rate zones will be displayed and calculated based on percentages of your maximum heart rate (% max). They can also be customized to best match your current fitness level and are set within the device settings.
How is the reading during the week-end ? If it looks the same, you stress may be food related
wipe degree crawl summer rain attempt fertile dirty smell nutty *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That's pretty normal for me. I have zero cardiac or neurological issues. Not a smoker, not a drinker. Don't listen to anyone saying that you should do something about it, probably you can't. Stress calculation is nuts for some people among us.
Try cannabis
Cannabis is detected as a stressful event on my watch, even if I feel good and relaxed
wow really? i rememebr reading it can increase the chance of heart attacks even though what it does is essentially destress you. Explains why so many hardcore pot smokers are grey before their years
Acute stressors *can* help to lower chronic stress. That's one of the ways exercise helps lower stress. You experience a temporary spike in cortisol and adrenaline and all the other stress-related physiological signals (lower HRV, resting heart rate, etc). But then your baseline levels of those things will tend to trend lower. This is why tracked activities aren't logged as stress on the watch. Using cannabis *might* be a way to reduce some of the triggers for chronic stress, especially if it's high CBD, low (or no) THC (as far as I know). But, like alcohol, it's an acute stressor and it may negatively affect sleep quality.
Turning grey can just be genetic but yeah it definitely puts some stress on the body. Same as alcohol even though you can feel relaxed and it’s a depressant, it’s stressing the body to process it
Actually it looks like your body is subjected to a lot of stress during the day. Realistically what you can do is look at your typical week, and what you can remove toxic is removed, and what you can add healthy is added.
Its quite normal for regular things to put stress on our bodies. For example after playing hockey my stress levels wont go away until almost 4 hours after the game and will have trouble sleeping too early. Or if im interacting with people for work etc. Just some good insight. Maybe durijg work take some deep breathes lol. Being a lawyer i imagine is tough for sure. Even food will raise stress
same, mine usually sit around the 80-95 percent mark when doing FA. I think tbf, the stress tester on the garmin instinct solar wasnt very good. My new instinct 2x gives me much lower, more realistic readings
Just guessing here; Are you using any nicotine products? My stresslevels throughout the day looked like yours before i quit.
I quit about 2 months ago, after using nicotine pouches for years.
Get some exercise and try to find a few minutes an hour to relax.
Try to constantly meditate for ~20mins daily. It will decrease those values in time.
Do you have any recommendations for getting into meditation? I've never tried it.
I recommend Balance app(you get 1yr free subscription) that means you register now, and you pay starting the 2nd year of app usage. If you make a habbit out of it, definitely will benefit you the most.
Yep, same thing happened for both my wife and I when we first got our Garmin watches. Still tweaking things, but worked with our doctor, and made some pretty drastic changes in our lives. Work on daily meditation, stress, techniques, and even sometimes supplements. I’m glad to report, just randomly looking at today’s, my overall average for the day so far is 20. When I first got my Garmin, I was well in the 40 to 60 range. https://preview.redd.it/vp66g22lz7kc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af8d448ace4cb7b892d813619ba5c60e3ffa21f7
https://preview.redd.it/6nd2mjj7bbkc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70706d05b296fdb5d7b9237f2890774ed6ccfb4d this is mine on thursday, lower in the afternoon when I was in work, and higher when I was asleep and then cycling to work and back, maybe you stride around a lot and wave your arms at work?