Stress Monitoring Using Wearable Sensors Author ANISA TAHIR

Abstract

Past studies on stress detection mostly consist of laboratory experiments where subjects maintained a sedentary posture. The physical reactions generated due to intellectual and physical stress level depending upon the changes that occur due to physical activity (as different human vitals are related to physical activity). The focus of this study was to design a protocol to quantify mental and physical stress based on mental and physical activity. A wearable sensors system is required that was used to quantify stress level through monitoring heart rate, GSR and temperature parameters during mental and physical activity at the same time. The aim of this research is to identify stress monitoring wearable system is effective in quantifying mental and physical stress. The hardware used contains feeds of three types of sensors projecting human vitals in terms of GSR (galvanic skin response), temperature and heart rate. To design and implement wearable stress monitoring system using multiple sensors set reliable scale values for stress quantification by conducting different experimental sessions and found suitable stress induction method, signals analysis for efficiently assess stress level. MATLAB and statistical tools were applied to find if the data acquired is statistically significant to the features associated with stress. The analysis showed a relationship between the stress levels and levels of physical activity. Results of study was used to understand predicting beforehand the initiation of a panic attack and quantified stress level.