'Stress Tracking' coming soon to your fitness tracker

All parts of the fitness and wellness markets had a shakeup in 2020 due to the pandemic—how we work out, what we eat, the products we put on our faces, the way we rest—and the reverberations of those changes will be felt into 2021 and beyond.

We've gone from people and devices counting steps, then, sleep quality was the health-tech metric to watch. But in 2021, a growing number of wearables will be tracking stress and helping consumers do something about it—a development that couldn't be more timely. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a Gallup poll said that the majority of Americans reported experiencing stress during the day, and nearly half said they felt worried a lot.

And now?

A recent study in the journal Cardiology proved that the pandemic is only exacerbating those rampant stress levels, to the point that doctors are already seeing an increase in stressed-related heart disease. A recent report in WELL + GOOD added: "Some leaders in the health-tech space—including Garmin, Whoop, Samsung Health and Oura—have previously tracked stress levels using heart rate data. But the newest wearables, coming to market in late 2020 and through next year, track stress in new ways. The latest Apple Watch Series 6 ($429) uses a built-in blood oxygen monitor to sense quick and shallow breathing, which can then be used to detect anxiety or panic attacks. Fitbit's forthcoming release, the FitBit Sense ($330) will be the first wearable to track stress through electrodermal activity, or how well skin conducts electricity. Sensors on the rim pick up on moisture triggered by stress.

The Well + Good article continued: "Launching in mid-December 2020, Cove, a device that wraps around the back of the head, tracks stress via heart rate, silently vibrating behind the ears to soothe the wearer and promote better sleep… Franciois Kress, the CEO and co-founder of Feelmore Labs, Cove's parent company said "In these challenging times, many of us are facing stress, uncertainty, fear, and doubt. These stressors can impact overall well-being, including sleep."

Hapbee Technologies is another company in the mix.

"These early-stage agreements mark the beginning of what I hope will become meaningful, long-term collaborations with Grey Team and The Mission After," said Scott Donnell, CEO of Hapbee. "Hapbee is honored to have the opportunity to engage with military veterans. The overarching goal with these agreements is to help veterans with stress management and productivity – aspects I think most all of us want to improve upon."

Under the terms of the partnering agreements, Grey Team and The Mission After have purchased approximately twenty Hapbee wearables for veterans' use at a discounted rate. Each Hapbee wearable will come with a lifetime subscription to all six original signals and are specifically for the purpose of R&D and user experience data collection. The partner organizations will, with users' permission, provide Hapbee with access to users of the product to garner individual responses and feedback.

Hapbee is a wearable magnetic field technology company that aims to help people choose how they feel. Powered by patented ultra-low radio frequency energy (ulRFE®) technology invented and licensed by EMulate Therapeutics, Inc., Hapbee delivers low-power electromagnetic signals designed to produce sensations such as Happy, Alert, Focus, Relax, Calm and Sleepy. See more: https://www.equedia.com/hapbee-the-netflix-of-feelings/