What types of stress do people experience? Can Era detect all of them?

There are three types of stress:

• Physical Stress: The body's "fight or flight" stress response to pressure or danger, such as catching a cold or facing danger.
• Emotional Stress: Our emotional experiences, such as feeling disliked or unhappy.
• Cognitive Stress: The brain's perception of things, such as struggling to focus while reading or failing to solve problems.

These types of stress are interrelated and contribute to mental stress, influencing each other.

Era uses HRV (Heart Rate Variability) and resting heart rate data to detect and indicate "Physical Stress" responses.

"Physical Stress" is used to measure whether the body is in a stressed state or if the autonomic nervous system is under tension. It can help understand current fatigue levels and mental stress. This is the normal reaction of the body when it is in a "fight or flight" tense state.

Simply put: The higher your HRV and the lower your resting heart rate, the more relaxed your body is. The lower your HRV and the higher your resting heart rate, the more tense your body is.

Although emotional and cognitive stress may also lead to physical stress and reduce HRV, the human body's mechanisms are extremely complex. Therefore, Era cannot detect all of your stress (nor can any other wearable device or app on the market).

Era primarily focuses on physical stress while also taking emotional and cognitive stress into account.

When is physical stress likely to be high?

The following behaviors affect the balance of the autonomic nervous system, and after influencing HRV and resting heart rate data, Era may prompt for stress overload or suggest paying attention to stress:

• High mental stress: High mental stress significantly lowers HRV and increases resting heart rate.
• Physical fatigue: Insufficient or poor-quality sleep, overexertion, excessive exercise without rest.
• Illness: HRV significantly decreases in the early stages or during illness but will recover after the body heals.
• Dehydration: Thirst or high salt intake, it's recommended to drink about eight cups of water a day.
• Unhealthy or irregular diet: Eating large amounts of fats or carbs, heavy-tasting food, or eating too much at night can affect HRV.
• Alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco: These stimulants have a nervous-suppressing effect that significantly affects HRV.
• During or after exercise: Physical stress is higher during or immediately after exercise, focusing more on the sympathetic nervous system, leading to temporary imbalance. However, moderate exercise with good rest can help improve HRV over time. Please continue to stick with it.