1. Unique data on stressful situations: new approach combines
social and health studies
A study within SalWe’s Mind and Body Programme used Firstbeat heart rate monitoring
equipment to record how stress and recovery manifest themselves in everyday living.
The researchers explored aggregate stress rather than focussing on the individual.
“The group of 36 busy city people participated in the
study. The group could be divided into two categories:
some were interested in health while others paid no
active attention to it. They were studied for just over
a week using Firstbeat heart rate monitoring equipment. At night they wore Vivago sleep monitors,” says
research professor Mika Pantzar of the National Consumer Research Centre.
Additional data was obtained with an Android phone
and a GPS locator.
“It was an unusual and difficult study that depended
on having suitable equipment and people willing to
participate. It would have been far harder to carry out
in any country other than Finland.”
Stress peaks outside the workplace
“We wanted to study the aggregate stress levels of
the 36 subjects, not the states of stress experienced
by individuals. Personal stress data was combined and
we examined the group rhythms that were revealed.”
To augment the stress data, group members were
SalWe - Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation in Health and Well-being

2. interviewed. They were surprised at the situations that
produced their highest and lowest stress levels. The
study indicates that the heart and the mouth speak
different languages.
“The results show that people busy at work do not in
fact experience the greatest stress at work but in their
leisure time. The spikes in stress came at eight in the
morning, three in the afternoon and, highest of all,
at eight in the evening. This suggests that the most
stressful moments are when future courses of action
are being prepared,” Mika Pantzar says.
The findings were very consistent. The only background
variable that corresponds to different personal stress
levels is the amount of physical activity.
“People who actively train and work out experience
declining levels of stress during the working day while
those who do less exercise do not. The quality of sleep
is also affected by a very small amount of alcohol,
which many found surprising.”
The researchers want to avoid broad generalisations
and point out that the group studied is far from representative of Finland as a whole.
nitive researcher. Finnish companies participating in
the study were Firstbeat Technologies, Valio, Vivago
and VTT Technical Research Centre.
“StudioMind developed an interface for analysing the
data that was collected, which enabled us to compare personal stress and recovery. The interface will
be available for future studies, and StudioMind aims
to commercialise an analysis tool.”
Mika Pantzar predicts that, within 5–10 years, using physical measurements in this way will be commonplace when social scientists study connections
between stress, spending and health.
Physical activity and stress
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130
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100
• Less physically
active
• Physically active
90
80
8 am
3 pm
8 pm
Stress during a week
70
60
50
Social scientists and equipment
Mika Pantzar underlines the unique approach used in
this study.
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30
10
0
“It is unusual for social scientists to use equipment
and to work together in a six-member research team.
They tend to work alone but the way this study was arranged required the input of more than one researcher.
The SalWe Mind and Body Programme brought very
unlikely partners together.”
Pantzar, an economist, worked with Minna Ruckenstein, an anthropologist, and Veera Mustonen, a cog-
• Saturday
• Sunday
• Weekday
20
8 am
3 pm
8 pm
More information
Mika Pantzar
research professor
National Consumer Research Centre
mika.pantzar@ncrc.fi
+358 400 490 791
SalWe - Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation in Health and Well-being