Biostrap has announced a new partnership with Philia Labs, which could lead to more accurate stress tracking.
Biostrap is no longer a consumer device and is working in B2B fields – especially for first responders.
The collaboration aims to enhance wearable technology by incorporating real-time monitoring of sympathetic and parasympathetic arousal, providing users with a more accurate understanding of their stress levels.
Stress tracking on wearables is pretty commonplace these days. However, traditional heart rate variability (HRV) metrics have been limited in their ability to measure the body’s real-time stress response, often leading to unreliable stress scores.
“While HRV can provide some insights into the body’s autonomic function, it is not a reliable marker for directly assessing sympathetic arousal, or the body’s response to stress,” says Biostrap’s explainer.
Rather than looking at parasympathetic markers – Biostrap’s partnership looks at sympathetic markers instead. If that sounds completely alien, the sympathetic nervous system is more commonly known as “fight or flight’ and a much more acute marker of stress.
“During stress or excitement, the body’s nervous system causes the tiny blood vessels in your skin to tighten, reducing blood flow. This is part of the “fight or flight” response, preparing the person for action by sending more blood to the muscles and heart. When you’re calm, your skin gets more blood flow, and when you’re stressed, less blood flows to the skin. This change in blood flow can be used to measure how stressed or emotionally aroused a person is—this is the essence of Sympathetic Arousal measurement,” Biostrap explained.
The AI-powered algorithm uses the PPG Waveshape feature to track these subtle changes in blood flow to measure Sympathetic Arousal. It then combines that with the HRV data tracking of the parasympathetic system for a better picture of stress tracking – or so Biostrap says.
The new features will help support first responders and military personnel operating in high-stress environments. And Biostrap says it will enhance performance for elite athletes.
You can read our deep dive into how Biostrap is being used to monitor the welfare of UK police officers – including stress responses.
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