Related

Inaccurate stress measuring? - stress level is much lower than expected

Lilla
over 1 year ago

I have been wearing a Venu 3S watch all day and night for 12 days and unfortunately I have some problems regarding stress monitoring.

When I started wearing the watch it showed that I have some low and medium stress moments at night, and that is completely normal. But after wearing it for 9 days it started measuring my stress at resting level all night and while sitting at work - even if I am nervous or feel anxiety. When I stand up and walk slowly for a few minutes it is not able to measure stress level. After sitting back in front of my computer to work my stress level starts decreasing and sink below resting level after 5-10 minutes and I have very long resting periods (more hours) despite the fact I am concentrating hard, I feel stressed because of my work and I am exhausted at the end of the day. When I am really stressed and have also physical symptoms of stress that I can feel, my watch shows me low or medium stress level. My average daily stress level at the end of the day is always between 21-29 - also on stressful days - and sometimes my watch gives me plus buttery points because I have had a lot of "restful" moments which is funny.

It is also interesting that I seem to be much stressed regarding my average daily stress level when I am on holiday and have an active - but stress-free - day (on these days my average stress level was 29).

As I know, the stress level is an important factor that affects on body battery, sleep need and so on, that is why I think it may cause some inaccuracy while the whole fitness tracking. 

Would you be so kind to give me some advise how to handle this issue? Yesterday I uploaded all the updates to my watch via computer but it did not help.

Thank you in advance!

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Hi Lilla,

    Stress is a much more complex phenomenon than a single metric could measure, so it is fairly possible that the readings - while being correct - do not match with your perceived stress level.

    It seems to me that garmin's stress metric correlates very well with the physical stress that the exercise causes. It means, when doing any significant exercise (running or hiking for a prolonged period, or doing HIIT training even for minutes) the measured stress level should be very high, and then should go to normal levels gradually, just after several hours.

    It if remains on a normal level after a serious exercise (in rest!) then there's really a problem with your watch. If it goes up, and remains there, then it works as intended.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to pxl

    Hi pxl,

    Thank you for your help and advice.

    I did a 35 minutes HIT training today, it was quite tough for me (avg. Heart rate: 139, max. heart rate: 176).

    One hour later while I am lying on the sofa my stress level is very changeable. It is constantly bouncing up and down between resting and medium stress levels. One minute it's well below 25, the next minute it's up to 68-70, than resting level again, after then jumping higher again, up and down whithin a few minutes. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    I have the same problem. Had another Garmin before this one and it measured accurately. This one is 10 max even on stressful days…

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 6885076

    Hi!

    How long have you been wearing your watch? Mine was inaccurate for ca. 3-4 weeks, after a month it started to function well. I think it needed every kind of data - some heavy trainings in high heart rate zone, restful days, enough sleep data, physical and mental stress ect. - for being accurate. Now my stress level reflects my emotianal state, enxiety at work, my stress level is high when I am ill or have a headache and it is extremely high after having some cocktails and smoking some cigarettes and having too little sleep. I think it was neccessary to wear it while having different life situations. So be patient, may your watch needs just time like mine. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Lilla

    Thank you for your reply! I’ve had it since November and wear it all the time. I run 10k every day and do other things, so I give the watch a chance to see me in different contexts. The previous venu that I had didn’t have this issue. And when I compare the two even now, the older one is okay with the stress levels. I tried contacting customer service and did a hold of the top button for a while, so I’ll see what happens but if it doesn’t improve, do you have any further suggestions?

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    I am extremely stressed at work l, work a lot ovetime amd sleep a little yet my Garmlin shows av stress level at approx 23-26, but reached 41 when I was lying on the beach doing nothing. Can anyone explain what to do in such case? This one one of main reason to get the watch at all. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 6885076

    Have you downloaded all of the updates? The first time when I saw my watch showed too low stress levels, I called the customer service and they adviced me to download the updates via computer(when you connect your watch to the computer via cabel and download the updates from the official site of garmin connect - I have no idea why it has an importance but they stated it is not enough to download the updates only through the mobil application. I am not an expert so I don't know, I gave it a chance. They suggested to do it every month. But I am convinced that the solution for my watch was some life situations with very high heart rate - after that it started to function well and it seems to be ok.

    I think you should try this "connecting the device to the computer and updateing your watch" thing then wear it for 3-4 days. If this didn't help then you should visit the local distributor service and ask for testing your watch. If it has a software problem, you are entitled for a free-of-charge replacement because of the guarantee.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 3577463

    Hi!

    I recommend you to read my earlier comments above, may you can find the solution.