I wondering just how the "Stress" number is calculated. Any ideas?

The watch needs some time to establish the range of your personal HR Variability, and then it converts the HRV into the Stress value in the scale from 0 (maximum HRV) to 100 (minimum HRV)

Some info for example here:

• What Is the Stress Level Feature on My Garmin Device? | Garmin Customer Support
• Firstbeat Analytics

Thanks.  I was just wondering how Garmin came up with a stress index. 

I've looked at some of the articles on HRV, while the articles do suggest that stress can impact HRV to turn that around is a stretch IMO.  I think it was (maybe still is) Heartmath that was peddling some tool to see your HRV, but the evidence of usefulness just isn't there for me. 

If you need some more evidence in form of a scientific paper, then there are plenty of them available too. For example: Stress and Heart Rate Variability: A Meta-Analysis and Review of the Literature - PMC (nih.gov) 

Thanks for responding trux.  That's one of the articles that I had read.  Early the linked article it startes "few studies have confirmed whether HRV is a good indicator of stress".   I am not a doc or he researcher so my opinion means very little.  But from what I've read HRV can be impacted by stress, but it doesn't follow that HRV is an indicator of stress.  HRV seems to be our bodies way of coping with a variable environment, after all it's gotta function for a fairly long time.  My walks are relaxing, used for clearing my mind, solving problems, enjoying nature or damn near anything.  Yes some sections cause my heartbeat to vary. But stress?? I don't think so.

Thanks for responding. 

Max

7369161 said:

Early the linked article it startes "few studies have confirmed whether HRV is a good indicator of stress".

Yes, that is in the introduction of the document. Read also the final conclusion:

In conclusion, the current neurobiological evidence suggests that HRV is impacted by stress and supports its use for the objective assessment of psychological health and stress.

7369161 said:

I believe that beings, nutrition, and metabolism are just a way too complicated systems to draw conclusions from momentary variations.

It is sure that it is much more complex, but all that data is still a valuable indicator for anyone understanding that fact, and watching rather for tendencies and sudden changes, than expecting the watch can tell him exactly what the state of the body is, and what he should do.

Yup, you're right.

BTW the Venu 2 Plus seems to be a very nice tool. I like it.  I was a Fitbit user.  I had Pebbles, both, and was surprised when they sold out to Fitbit.  The first Fitbit watch was good, then the Ionic was very nice.  The Sense had prbs at first but ended up being more than just Okay.  The Sense 2 was a failure with me, but Fitbit dropped the ball with the returned watch.  They thought I should be happy paying f for their "Premium" service. No!!  Big tussle but I finally got all the money back.  Fitbit spent more in wages, much more, than the final $10.79 I was due. Crazy!!

The Venu 2 Plus is great at tracking my walks, as expected. Also great at recording my lap swims, which the Sense could not do reasonably (read whinny excuse from Fitbit).  And to my surprise it counts my steps in the current pool they have a set the community center.  Very very nice!  And it shows my HR elevating when I walk against the flow. I'm very happy to have purchased the 2 Plus.  The only problem I have, and I'm sure it's an operator issue, is ending the Lap Swim.  Somehow I haven't got the right touch to stop the Lap Swim, so I get bunch of very small extra sections. Hmmm.   

It's been nice chatting with you about stress & HRV.

Max