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Stress has been shown to cause several diseases and be detrimental to your health. Now there is a way to measure that stress using your cellphone. There are two methods. They both use the same technology, known as Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

Heart rate variability is the measurement of the time between heart beats. Although counter intuitive, a steady heartbeat with little to no variation is actually considered to be a sign of physiological stress. A healthy low stress individual would have a heartbeat with a high degree of variability.

The two methods are both smartphone based but vary on the method of getting the heartbeat data. The first method requires a bluetooth heart rate monitor. That data is fed into a HRV app and then the data is analyzed and current stress levels are displayed. This is the most accurate method but involves purchasing a heart rate monitor. To maximize accuracy, a chest strap based heart rate monitor is preferred.

The second method, is to use the camera of the smartphone to analyze your heartbeat. Although not as accurate, it has been shown to correlate very well with dedicated heart rate monitors. This is also the cheapest and most accessible method for most users. People who are not the most physically active and have no use for an actual heart rate monitor will find this method the most useful.