Stress Reaction and Recovery
There are jobs and jobs. Some professions are physically demanding, whereas others require skills that require more concentration of the mind. In any case, work is energy-consuming. This means that no matter how well prepared you are for your job, you need to take enough rest and take care of yourself in the most appropriate possible way in order to guarantee you abilities to perform well in the future.
But nowadays our lives are so hectic and we often end up so professionally obsessed that we don’t even have time to pay attention to ourselves. This may lead to long-term exhaustion and may even raise health-related issues. This is particularly dangerous with hazardous jobs and jobs that are physically more demanding.
Physical activities of an exhausted body carry risks of injuries, fatigue-related illnesses and even long-term disabilities. There are general recommendations about intensity limits at work (based on %VO2max), which forms the basis for assessing physical workload.
How well are you?
Are you overloaded with work and tasks? Does sometimes work along with home chores obstruct you from taking enough rest? Have you got time for relaxing exercises and procedures?
There are numerous questions that bring one simple answer: Take care of yourself. You might not even begin to feel the difference before it is too late. Millions of people across the globe rarely find any time for themselves. When you are so busy and obsessed with work, you might actually "forget" about yourself.
Do not let this go on for too long. Don't wait for the "Too late" signal. Long-term exhaustion might lead to fatigue-related illnesses and could have severe consequences on the physical abilities of your body.
Qwave assesses your level of daily activity
Qwave can assess the physical abilities of your body. This assessment includes measuring your heart rate and the results are analyzed to determine your level of daily activity.
Heart rate measurements are taken on two days with similar activities. Measurements are recorded with a log that includes various information like work tasks, breaks, etc.; and even daily events, like emotions of overload or recovery.
Generally momentary stress is considered a negative factor but this is not necessarily true. In fact, it might have positive effect on people and may help concentration and motivation. Usually momentary stress becomes problematic when the pressure becomes “too much” for a continuous period of time.
On the other hand, the “dark side of stress” might cause minor disturbances, such as lack of concentration (momentary stress). Nevertheless, momentary stress and lack of concentration could also bring some negative side-effects such as increased risk of occupational accidents.
Stress has two major aspects: momentary stress (stress reaction) and accumulative stress. Continuous increase of momentary stress leads to increase in long-term accumulative stress and health level
It is important to take care of momentary stress and make sure you do not accumulate stress in your body. Accumulative stress, if not treated, may grow to cause serious health issues and inabilities.
Recovering from stress plays an important role in your abilities to perform well in almost every aspect of your life: from doing well at work to doing well in your private life, or just “feeling alright”, if you prefer.
Stress and Recovery
Qwave offers monitoring sessions for stress and recovery. It enables general users to easily determine how their bodies response to stress factors. You may like to assess your momentary stress right after work; on the other hand, you could see how well you were able to relax during your vacation. You can observe when you are most stressed and when are you most relaxed.
Does work put too much stress on you? Do you get enough good sleep? Qwave provides answers to these two questions and you could use it to monitor the condition of your body.
Qwave momentary stress and recovery is a proven method that measures and analyzes your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to figure out changes in the physiological functions and especially in the functioning of autonomic nervous system (ANS). All these are reflected in our heart. It is designed to distinguish ANS stress reactions caused by immediate physical demands and other factors, such as mental demands or stress.
The momentary stress and recovery analysis has been developed in collaboration with several research projects in the area of stress measurement and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, applying also research in the fields of exercise physiology, behavioral sciences, and applied mathematics.
The Key benefits of Qwave for stress and recovery monitoring include:
• Objective evaluation of the momentary stress levels during the session
• Recognition of stress overload
• Identification of periods of stress and recovery in daily activities
• Recovery and resources follow-up
• Easily understandable reports
After measurements are taken, reports are prepared. For stress and recovery, Qwave offers two individual reports.
Available Reports:
• Stress Reaction Report
• Resources and Recovery Report
Qwave’s Stress Reaction Report
The report illustrates the physiological reactions associated with stress and recovery during the session measurement. Periods of stress and recovery during a workday are analyzed and momentary stress management is evaluated.
These reports are suitable for everybody who is interested in getting individual measurement data of his/her body’s stress reactions and relaxation periods during work and leisure time, and in monitoring lifestyle stress.
These Reports can be used for many applications, including:
• Monitoring time periods of high stress and recovery during a single day to identify peaks and of stress and recovery
• Monitoring of day-to-day stress and recovery
• Analysis of the stress load of diverse work tasks
• Analysis of measurements taken during leisure time to get an overall picture of stress and recovery states
• Identification of high stress and recovery
• Planning of necessary changes in lifestyle
• Analysis of the influence of physical activity on stress
• Illustration of the balance between stress and recovery states
Qwave’s Stress Reaction Report offers the following features:
• Momentary stress and recovery chart
• Analysis of periods with stress reactions (i.e. identify when the highest intensity of stress reactions occurred)
• Stress and recovery proportioned to an 8h working day
• Stress reaction and recovery follow-up
Qwave’s Resources and Recovery Report
The changes in body’s resources and the balance of stress and recovery states during the measurement period are analyzed and presented in reports.
Recovery is key to stress analysis, since insufficient daily recovery reduces work efficiency and overall well-being. By using this method, you can verify how well you are able to recover during a work-day and particularly after a good night sleep.
This report is suitable for everybody who is interested in getting individual and detailed information about his/her body’s resources. This information is analyzed and presented in reports that show how the body is affected by stress reaction and recovery.
Qwave’s Resources and Recovery Report offers the following features:
• Resources charts
• Recovery analysis (i.e. identify when the highest level of recovery occurred)
• Shares of stress and recovery in segments of equal length
• Balance of recovery (i.e. between stress and recovery)
• Resource follow-up
These Reports can be used for many applications, including:
• Monitoring the changes in resources in the course of the day
• Analysis of the influence of different work tasks on body’s resources
• Monitoring long-term development of body’s resource balance for planning and controlling changes in lifestyle
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