Stress can a major contributing factor to the development of chronic diseases like heart disease, and to workplace issues such as burn out. Job related stress in particular builds up to $300B in annual costs in the USA. But for scientists and psychologists, measuring stress and helping patients to overcome stress, can itself be stressful: Accurately measuring stress can be particularly hard to do. However, according to anew article from IEEE, a new wearable sensor developed by Stanford could be the Holy Grail of stress measurement.
Stanford researchers have recently developed a patch that is able to provide instant and accurate measurement of stress by checking the levels of Cortisol, the stress hormone, in sweat. The patch is still only a prototype, and work remains to be done to miniaturize the device, evaluate data, develop a user interface, and adapt it to be powered by energy harvesting rather than a battery. But even in its early stages, this small patch has the potential to have huge ramifications in our global health, and our ability to overcome stress.
Read more about this incredible innovation in measuring stress here.
And, read about our own stress-reducing RESET Pods here.
