The science
of stress
As well as tracking the usual health metrics, NOWATCH focuses on the underlying cause of all health issues - stress.
The bottom line:
if you manage your stress, you can manage your health.
We’re here to help.
STRESS
What does ‘stress’ actually mean?
Most people see stress as feeling overwhelmed or anxious, but stress isn't an emotion—it's your body's physical response to challenges. It helps us rise to the occasion and handle everyday moments like meeting deadlines or navigating traffic.
Why should I track it?
While stress is natural, it can also be a sign. What we help you to understand is how well your body responds to stress and how you might be able to improve that. If you are stress resilient, you'll respond in the correct way to life's situations (not too much stress and not too little). Stress resilience is a key indicator of how healthy you are—mentally and physically.
A scary fact: 9 out of 10 life threatening diseases have been linked to stress. The good news? There are things we can do to prevent a stress overload.
What am I looking for?
By tracking your stress, you can start to manage it too. On the NOWATCH app, you will see your Stress Gauge and a summary each day of your stress data. There are three key things to keep an eye on.
did you know?
Stress doesn’t just affect your health, it also affects your relationships and your career.
In fact, people who report experiencing more stress miss an average of 24 more days of work a year due to stress, and their children are more likely to develop mental health issues.
Stress Duration
How long you stay stressed
We measure the amount of time your body is ‘reactive’. Over 3 hours? This might need some work.
Stress Recovery
How you recover from stress
Does it take you over 30 minutes to get back to Calm? A resilient system bounces back quickly; a strained one takes longer.
Stress Frequency
How often you’re stressed
If you see your body experiencing lots of stress moments throughout the day, this might be a sign you're too sensitive to stress. Anything over 6 is something to watch.
How to read your Stress Gauge
Resilient System
When you’re feeling good, your Stress Gauge mostly stays in the Calm Zone. You move through the day with energy and focus. You might spike during a workout or a stressful moment, but you bounce back quickly—that’s a sign your system’s in balance.
Delayed Recovery
If your Stress Gauge shows it’s taking a while to bounce back, you might be stuck in fight-or-flight mode. This means your body’s working harder than it should, draining your energy over time and making it harder to recover.
Heightened Sensitivity
A highly reactive Stress Gauge shows you're having strong reactions to normal daily events. This sensitivity can drain your energy, as your body goes into "alert mode" for situations that don't really need such a big response.
Depleted Resources
If you’re spending most of the day below your Calm Zone, it’s a sign your energy is running low. Maybe you’re just tired, but it could also mean your body’s fighting something off or still recovering. When that happens, your system shifts into low power mode—just focusing on the basics. You might feel unmotivated or not really up for things you usually enjoy, and that’s your body saying, “Let’s take it slow for now.”
IMPACT
How does the NOWATCH sense stress?
Time for some science! Our bodies have an Autonomic Nervous System which regulates all our involuntary reactions. It’s mainly made up of two components: The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.
Autonomic Nervous System responding to daily life demands
Think of an electric car: using your sympathetic nervous system is like pushing down the accelerator - your body is on high alert and ready to go. When your parasympathetic nervous system is at work, it’s like the car is being charged - resting and restoring. A healthy body will regulate the nervous system, finding a balance between these two modes.
When we are experiencing stress, our body has physiological reactions like sweating, increased heart rate etc. By constantly measuring these metrics, we can estimate when your body is in this more reactive state.
The effects of stress over time
It might not surprise you that an overload of stress can affect your mental health, but it’s not just your mind that takes a strain—it’s your body too. Everyday stress may seem minor, but repeated or prolonged exposure adds up.
When your body activates its fight-or-flight response, essential maintenance functions like digestion and tissue repair are put on hold as resources are redirected towards addressing the threat.
Over time, if your body continues to spend more time in this ‘fight or flight’ mode rather than ‘rest and digest’ this pressure on your system puts you at higher risk of weakened immunity, inflammation and accelerated ageing, but also mental health issues like anxiety and depression, and chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Everyday stress adds up
RESILIENCE
How does NOWATCH help me manage stress?
Managing stress doesn’t mean avoiding it. A resilient system is one that can use stress for momentum when needed, but return to calm quickly after.
Start to spot patterns
Throughout the day, you can log activities. By doing this you can spot patterns in what activities might leave you feeling stressed and even what helps you feel restored.
Adapt, recover, grow
Stress resilience doesn't mean eliminating or avoiding stress—resilience is your ability to adapt positively to stressful circumstances
A resilient stress response
system can
- Activate quickly when needed (to help you focus or perform)
- Return to baseline efficiently once the stressor has passed
- Coordinate effectively between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity
- Adapt over time to become less sensitive to minor stressors
How do I build stress resilience?
