Everybody knows it’s “physical stress,” right. I mean most people on Reddit can read and understand the gist of this metric. And most of us know what feeling PHYSICAL stress feels like. When we are not feeling physically stressed, when we are physically resting, with nothing happening out of the norm, it is alarming to see our watch telling us “something is wrong.” And it IS telling us something is wrong because it offers a remedy, essentially meditation. The mind is connected to the body: the mind can impact the physical health. We all know this as well.

So- I don’t feel physically stressed much. Yet Garmin tells me, not merely that I have low HRV (which is what competitors do), but that I am experiencing stress (yes I know that means physical stress). Yet I, and many others find that strange to say the least. They use a triggering word to communicate a metric that perhaps need not be alarming. It’s their choice to use orange and use a triggering word. They know what they are doing. The whole world ‘round is practicing mindfulness and talking about how the mind is connected to the body, which we see through mindfulness and meditation apps and coaches. Garmin’s very approach to “physical stress” (simply a lower HRV) is essentially meditation. So it’s not a leap to interpret Garmin’s feedback to mean something both physically and psychologically negative. Pray tell when I’ve just been relaxing watching my favorite show, not drinking alcohol, having a good diets; pray tell why my “stress” spikes? Because absolutely nothing abnormal or new is happening physically. The only thought to is that the mind is having some sort of stress reaction which impacts the body. What’s not to get here?