Vivosmart 5 Stress Levels Consistently HIGH

Update: Nothing in my routine has changed that I’m aware of, but now the Stress number for the day is more in the 50-60% range rather than the 70+%. Body battery is also a bit higher as in hitting around 50 a couple times, but still averaging 25-30% and is usually down to 5% (which seems to be the floor) by mid-day. Sleep score is seldom higher than 50, although a couple days it did get above 70. I have plenty of deep sleep and light sleep, some REM and a few restless moments, but NO awake times at all. I only sleep about 6.5 hrs. a night without an alarm clock, but that’s my normal range and have done that consistently for the last decade. The high stress and low body battery numbers have to be dragging that number down. Just based on sleep cycles and waking up refreshed, I would expect at least a 70 almost every night. Maybe it just penalizes people who naturally sleep less than 7 hours per night.

I switched from FitBit to Garmin to get the additional measurements, but they haven’t been useful as I just have to assume they’re incorrect and ignore them. Fitbit sleep scores were always at least 70. I just ignore and adjust the numbers up or down, because they obviously aren’t correct. Only getting an hour or so of rest and only during the sleep cycle can’t be right as I have several restful periods during the day doing things I enjoy that seem to register as the maximum on the stress graph. I just don’t trust any of these measurements as being accurate and am just using them as relative to their past values and not at all reliable compared to anything else in the real world. 

I'm dealing with a similar situation. I have a Vivosmart 5 and my stress is high all day AND all night. I rarely get any rest...I mean 5 minutes to 1 hour if I'm lucky on occasion. I am exhausted all the time though. I don't sleep well. So I assumed the stats were right. My body battery is always between 20-30 and my sleep score never over 50. I could tell it wasn't accurately tracking sleep wake cycles. So I bought a Fitbit. My Fitbit sleep scores are consistently in the 80s. But I don't see a stress measurement. So I'm at a loss. I have no way of knowing what my health measurements are.

I think it’s obvious that different companies use different algorithms that are proprietary, so we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. I’m happy with the Vivosmart, but if I’m not sleeping, my stress levels are always high. And, that lowers my sleep score. I guess the bottom line is that Fitbit is more forgiving and gives better numbers, but I don’t assume either is totally accurate. 
I think of the numbers as relative and not absolute. I am seeing some improvements at least with the sleep numbers and definitely some up and some down days. The relative comparisons are helpful and do seem to relate to my activities. So, just go by that and accept that this platform just grades harder than Fitbit. I think that may also reflect the intended audience. Garmin seems to aim more for the hard core users and high numbers won’t make you work harder as much as lower ones would. That may be intentional as it does make you ask what you can do to score higher. 

I thought it was just me. I’m so glad it’s not. I’m not sleeping well it says. It’s always telling me I’m not at least, even though I feel alright. And it’s also telling me I’m constantly stressed out when I’m not. I can’t even enjoy this watch and I wish I hadn’t bought it now. 

I've been experiencing the same exact issues - has anyone attempted to discuss with Garmin support? I'm going to try to that, but wanted to gather any experiences from the group first in case it might be helpful. I will share results of my discussion in this thread after I talk to support (provided they don't lock the thread, which they seem to keep doing with this issue). 

I am glad I found this thread. I’m having the same issue with stress levels always being high even after a relaxing holiday. I think the algorithm is to blame, so should be easy to fix. Also my HR seems a little high compared with a FitBit and another Garmin 255 I have tested with. Perhaps there should be away for us to calibrate to suit our needs?

Are you by any chance wearing the vivosmart 5 on your dominant hand? I noticed quite a big discrepancy between Instinct 1 and 2 on my left arm and VS5 on the right one. I found a Reddit user with the same issue, so maybe it's worth trying to switch hands..?

Thank you, had never thought about that. I wear it on my non dominant arm. I might also try swapping which arm I wear it on in the Garmin app. Thanks for the tip.

Stress level continually high

                  I wore a Vivosmart HR for 5 years.

I bought a Vivosmart 5 two weeks ago and started wearing it on July 15, 2024.  The results were reasonable and consistent for the first week. Then, for six days, my sleep score dropped from the 80s and 90s to poor (49-52) and my stress was high. Yesterday, it was off-wrist, charging for a few hours, so it recorded lower stress. Suddenly my sleep score was 89, even though my sleep stage durations were about the same as when I had poor sleep.  I conclude that sleep score depends on the prior day’s stress.

                  During that first week, when I slept, the Vivosmart 5 heart rate dropped quickly to my resting heart rate in the low 40s (I was a long-distance runner), just as my Vivosmart HR had measured for several years (I compared the data).  During the second week, the Vivosmart started measuring my heartrate at 60-70 for 5 hours of the night before it dropped to the 40s.  Needless to say, I thought I might have a problem.

                  To investigate this, I first did a factory reset on my Vivosmart. Then, I did an overnight test. I wore my Wahoo TICKR X chest strap (often referred to as the “gold standard” of heart rate measurement) overnight to compare its heart rate measurement with my Vivosmart 5. The difference was surprising. For example, when I got up to use the bathroom, the TICKR X showed that my heart rate rose to the 90s and then dropped back to the 40s. The Garmin barely noticed when I got up, but then it showed a heart rate in the 60s for hours after that.  As a computer scientist, my intuition is that the heart rate algorithm gets “stuck” at a value and can’t get out of it. The algorithm averages heartrate over an interval of at least 2 minutes.

                  As a related note, I wore my Vivosmart 5 during my recent Stress Echo Test.  I have accurate data from the test, showing my heart rate was raised from 47 to 162 over 10 minutes.  The Vivosmart didn’t capture it.  It showed a reading in the low 50s that peaked at 83 during that time interval.  I conclude that the Vivosmart algorithm averages more than a 2 minute window.  It is clearly not a medical device.

                  As another experiment, I did a 30 minute walk yesterday using both the Vivosmart 5 and my Wahoo TICKR X.  Midway through, I stopped at a yard sale for 3 and a half minutes.  The TICKR X showed my heart rate dropped from 90s to 70.  The Vivosmart 5 showed my heart rate dropped from 97 to no lower than 95 during that time.

                  Conclusion:  The Vivosmart heart rate is averaged over a period of several minutes and doesn’t show short bursts of activity over a few (2-5) minutes.  It appears to get “stuck” at certain values during the night. The sleep score is a function of prior day’s stress.