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May as well get a mood ring: smartwatch "useless" for measuring stress [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-08-12

A study published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science finds that smartwatches purporting to measure stress do not do so accurately. This news isn't going to help Garmin Vivosmart 4 wearers relax.

We investigated the concurrent overlap between self-report and wearable sensor data measuring stress, tiredness, and sleep. For the majority of individuals in our sample, we found that self-report and physiological measures of stress show very weak to no associations. These results raise several questions about differences between data sources and potential measurement issues.

The Guardian summarizes the paper and its conclusions: "devices cannot differentiate between someone being overworked and being excited."

Eiko Fried, an author of the study, said the correlation between the smartwatch and self-reported stress scores was "basically zero". He added: "This is no surprise to us given that the watch measures heart rate and heart rate doesn't have that much to do with the emotion you're experiencing – it also goes up for sexual arousal or joyful experiences." He noted that his Garmin had previously told him he was stressed when he was working out in the gym and when excitedly talking to a friend he had not seen for a while at a wedding.

As Techspot's Alfonso Maruccia puts it: "useless." The implication is that whatever's being measured, it doesn't meaningfully match up to stress. The device's fatigue measurement does a little better, according to the research, and it was much better at detecting sleep.

Previously:

• Dear Apple Watch: My Hamilton survived two wars without needing a software update

• The Garmin InReach Mini is this digital nomad's new best friend

• Fossil giving up on smartwatches

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/08/12/may-as-well-get-a-mood-ring-smartwatch-useless-for-measuring-stress.html

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