Your smartwatch tells you that you slept poorly. Your fitness tracker reports elevated stress. Your ring suggests that your body has not fully recovered overnight. But what do these numbers actually mean for your mental health?
Wearable devices, such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart rings, can monitor information about our bodies, including heart rate, sleep, and physical activity. Researchers are increasingly exploring how this information may help us understand patterns associated with stress, mood, and emotional well-being.
While wearable technology can offer useful insights, monitoring your body's signals is not the same as understanding your mental health. A device may identify a change, but it cannot fully explain what you are feeling or why.
How Can Wearable Technology Help Us Understand Stress?
When we experience stress, our bodies can respond in different ways. Our heart rate may increase, sweating may change, and other physiological responses may occur.
According to Pinge et al. (2024), wearable technology can measure certain physical signals, including heart activity, skin temperature, and changes associated with sweating. Some devices also use heart-rate variability (HRV), which is the variation in time between heartbeats, to estimate stress levels.
Over time, these measurements may help people recognize patterns. For example, someone might notice that their sleep has become less consistent and their resting heart rate has increased during a particularly demanding week at work. This could prompt them to reflect on their workload, emotional state, or need for rest.
However, these signals are not specific to psychological stress. Exercise, caffeine, illness, medication, and environmental temperature can also affect physiological measurements. A device can detect changes in your body, but it cannot always identify their cause.
Rather than treating a stress score as a definitive answer, consider it an opportunity to check in with yourself.
The Connection Between Sleep and Mood
Sleep plays an important role in emotional well-being. Poor sleep can make it harder to manage emotions, concentrate, cope with everyday challenges, and respond to stress. Research has found that sleep deprivation can affect communication between the amygdala, which helps process emotions, and the prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in regulating emotional responses (Motomura et al., 2017). Emotional distress can also interfere with sleep, creating a cycle that may become difficult to break.
Hickman et al. (2024) reviewed research examining how digital technologies and wearable devices can be used to monitor sleep, mood, and emotional experiences. Tracking sleep patterns may help people recognize changes in their routines and reflect on how those changes relate to their well-being.
For example, you might notice that you feel more emotionally drained after several nights of disrupted sleep. Recognizing this pattern could encourage you to prioritize rest or explore factors that may be affecting your sleep.
However, consumer sleep trackers estimate sleep using measurements such as movement and heart rate. They cannot always accurately determine sleep stages, and a poor sleep score does not necessarily mean you will feel poorly the next day.
Your device can offer information, but your own experience matters too. If tracking your sleep leaves you feeling anxious about achieving the perfect score, consider reducing how often you check your results.
The Benefits and Limitations of Wearable Technology
When used thoughtfully, wearable technology may support self-awareness and healthier routines. It can help people notice changes in sleep, activity, or physiological patterns that they might otherwise overlook.
This information may also provide a starting point for conversations with a healthcare professional or counsellor. For example, noticing changes in your sleep during stressful periods could help you explore how your daily responsibilities affect your well-being.
However, tracking can also create pressure.
When tracking becomes stressful
Constantly checking stress scores, sleep ratings, or recovery measurements can increase worry rather than provide reassurance. Some people may begin to judge their health or daily performance based on numbers, feeling discouraged when their scores do not meet expectations.
It is important to remember that mental health is not a score to achieve. Resting when you are tired or experiencing a difficult day does not mean you have failed.
Wearable data also cannot diagnose anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions. Measurements should be interpreted cautiously and should not replace appropriate medical assessment. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has similarly cautioned that consumer sleep-tracking technologies should not be used to diagnose or treat sleep disorders without appropriate clinical assessment. Although these devices can provide useful information, their measurements have limitations (Khosla et al, 2018).
Five Ways to Use Wearable Technology Mindfully
You do not necessarily need to stop using your smartwatch or fitness tracker. Instead, consider whether your relationship with technology supports your well-being.
Look for patterns, not individual readings. One unusual score may not mean much. Consider what has been happening in your life over time.
Check in with yourself first. Before opening your app, ask yourself how you feel physically and emotionally.
Treat readings as information, not diagnoses. A stress notification does not automatically mean you are experiencing psychological stress.
Take breaks when needed. If tracking makes you feel worried, guilty, or preoccupied with numbers, consider turning off notifications or temporarily stepping away.
Prioritize what helps you feel well. Focus on adequate rest, meaningful relationships, healthy routines, and activities that support your emotional well-being.
The goal is to use technology to support your life, not to feel as though you must constantly monitor yourself.
Where Does Counselling Fit In?
Emerging research suggests that wearable technology may eventually play a role in counselling by helping therapists and clients notice patterns in stress, sleep, and other behaviours over time. A systematic review found that sensor-based tools show promise in mental healthcare, including supporting symptom monitoring and treatment (Bosch et al., 2024). Wearable data should complement, not replace, the therapeutic conversation, as the data itself cannot explain the experiences behind them.
For example, your device might show changes in your heart rate during a stressful workweek. However, it cannot tell you whether your stress is connected to workplace pressure, relationship difficulties, perfectionism, or uncertainty about the future.
Counselling offers an opportunity to explore these experiences in a supportive environment. Working with a therapist can help you understand emotional triggers, recognize patterns in your thoughts and behaviours, develop coping strategies, and establish healthier boundaries.
If you use a wearable device, the patterns you notice may provide a starting point for reflection during counselling. However, you do not need to track your mental health or have all the answers before seeking support.
Finding the right therapist is about more than tracking symptoms. It is about having space to feel heard, understand yourself more deeply, and work toward changes that matter to you.
At Vaughan Counselling & Psychotherapy and Zormin Counselling & Psychotherapy, counselling can provide space to explore concerns related to stress, anxiety, relationships, and life transitions.
The team includes therapists with different backgrounds and approaches to care. For example, Farina, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), supports clients navigating stress, anxiety, self-esteem, relationship concerns and life transitions. Her collaborative, client-centred approach draws on CBT, mindfulness-based strategies and strengths-based practices to help clients explore their experiences and develop practical coping skills. Rachel is another Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) who provides individualized support in both English and Cantonese. With a background in social services and community mental health, Rachel has a unique understanding of how your life experiences can impact your physical and mental health.
Your Mental Health Is More Than a Metric
Wearable technology can offer useful information about our bodies and daily habits. When used mindfully, it may help us recognize patterns and identify areas of our lives that need attention.
However, a heart-rate reading, sleep score, or stress notification cannot capture the full complexity of your emotional experience.
The next time your device tells you that your stress is elevated, take a moment to ask yourself: What might I need right now?
Perhaps you need rest, a conversation with someone you trust, or support in navigating a difficult situation. Learning to recognize and respond to your needs is just as important as monitoring physical signals.
If stress, anxiety, or emotional challenges are affecting your daily life, speaking with a counsellor may help you better understand your experiences and explore strategies that work for you.
Looking for counselling in Vaughan, Mississauga, Toronto, or virtually? Vaughan Counselling & Psychotherapy and Zormin Counselling & Psychotherapy offer a range of counselling services to help you navigate life's challenges and improve your emotional well-being.
References
R. Bosch, M. L. Noordzij, G. J. Westerhof, & E. T. Bohlmeijer. (2024). Integration of Sensor-Based Technology in Mental Healthcare: A Systematic Scoping Review: A Systematic Scoping Review. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science, 10, 201–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-024-00427-5
Hickman, R., D’Oliveira, T. C., Davies, A., & Shergill, S. (2024). Monitoring daily sleep, mood, and affect using digital technologies and wearables: A systematic review. Sensors, 24(14), Article 4701. https://doi.org/10.3390/s24144701
Khosla, S., Deak, M. C., Gault, D., Goldstein, C. A., Hwang, D., Kwon, Y., O’Hearn, D., Schutte-Rodin, S., Yurcheshen, M., Rosen, I. M., Kirsch, D. B., Chervin, R. D., Carden, K. A., Ramar, K., Aurora, R. N., Kristo, D. A., Malhotra, R. K., Martin, J. L., Olson, E. J., … Rowley, J. A. (2018). Consumer Sleep Technology: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Statement. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 14(5), 877–880. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7128
Motomura, Y., Katsunuma, R., Yoshimura, M., & Mishima, K. (2017). Two Days’ Sleep Debt Causes Mood Decline During Resting State Via Diminished Amygdala-Prefrontal Connectivity. Sleep, 40(10). https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsx133
Pinge, A., Gad, V., Jaisighani, D., Ghosh, S., & Sen, S. (2024). Detection and monitoring of stress using wearables: A systematic review. Frontiers in Computer Science, 6, Article 1478851. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2024.1478851
