Momentary Stressor Logging and Reflective Visualizations: Implications for Stress Management with Wearables

Sameer Neupane; Mithun Saha; Nasir Ali; Timothy Hnat; Shahin Alan Samiei; Anandatirtha Nandugudi; David M. Almeida; Santosh Kumar

doi:10.1145/3613904.3642662

arXiv · 2401.16307

Momentary Stressor Logging and Reflective Visualizations: Implications for Stress Management with Wearables

Sameer Neupane·Mithun Saha·Nasir Ali·Timothy Hnat·Shahin Alan Samiei·Anandatirtha Nandugudi·David M. Almeida·Santosh Kumar

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Abstract

Commercial wearables from Fitbit, Garmin, and Whoop have recently introduced real-time notifications based on detecting changes in physiological responses indicating potential stress. In this paper, we investigate how these new capabilities can be leveraged to improve stress management. We developed a smartwatch app, a smartphone app, and a cloud service, and conducted a 100-day field study with 122 participants who received prompts triggered by physiological responses several times a day. They were asked whether they were stressed, and if so, to log the most likely stressor. Each week, participants received new visualizations of their data to self-reflect on patterns and trends. Participants reported better awareness of their stressors, and self-initiating fourteen kinds of behavioral changes to reduce stress in their daily lives. Repeated self-reports over 14 weeks showed reductions in both stress intensity (in 26,521 momentary ratings) and stress frequency (in 1,057 weekly surveys).

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Sameer Neupane, Mithun Saha, Nasir Ali, Timothy Hnat, Shahin Alan Samiei, Anandatirtha Nandugudi, David M. Almeida, Santosh Kumar. 2024-01-29. Momentary Stressor Logging and Reflective Visualizations: Implications for Stress Management with Wearables. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642662

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