How to Calculate Your Stress Score: Assess Your Stress Levels Effectively

Understanding your stress levels can often feel subjective, but advancements in technology are making it more measurable.

Many smartwatches are now equipped to assess your heart rate, offering a basic indicator of stress. The normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute. When stress occurs, the body releases cortisol and adrenaline, which can elevate this rate. A diminished capacity to recover from stress may lead to prolonged increases in heart rate.

Additionally, various smartwatches measure heart rate variability (HRV), which captures the natural fluctuations between successive heartbeats. Under stress, both cortisol and adrenaline cause your heart rate to quicken, leading to reduced variability. Conversely, when the parasympathetic nervous system activates to regain balance, heart rate fluctuations increase. Since average HRV varies from individual to individual, it’s advisable to track deviations as markers of stress.

Over time, monitoring your heart rate and HRV can yield a stress “score,” pinpointing activities or individuals that may contribute to excessive stress (refer to Why the right kind of stress is important for your health and well-being). However, these scores can be imprecise; recent research indicates that they may fail to differentiate between positive excitement and harmful stress.

Cortisol is another critical biomarker for stress researchers. However, its rapid increase—occurring roughly 20 minutes post-stressor—makes it less practical for immediate assessment. Research conducted by Julie Vashuk at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic requires saliva, urine, or blood samples for comprehensive analysis. A biosensor designed for continuous cortisol monitoring is under development, aiming for future commercial availability. Monitor cortisol functionality will enhance our understanding of stress.

In the near future, Vashuk predicts potential biomarker innovations might stem from bone cells. Under stress, these cells produce glutamate, which can inhibit the hormone osteocalcin.

This leads to an influx of osteocalcin in the bloodstream, decreasing parasympathetic activity and triggering a fight-or-flight response.

“We believe that under stress, the skeleton rapidly produces molecules that serve as better biomarkers for real-time conditions,” Vashuk mentions.

“These bone-derived substances play a significant role in directing energy to necessary areas,” she continues. “In the future, one of these molecules could emerge as a valuable biomarker for stress.”