Always Working Can Be Deadly: BioBeats Study Links High Stress Levels And Heart Disease

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioBeats, the leader in digital health and artificial intelligence, recently completed a landmark study with the University of Surrey, to further understand the tremendously dangerous impact that stress has on the body. According to the research, the stress of constantly working – being connected to your phone, laptop and emails, without any dedicated interventions, can be deadly as it is linked to cardiovascular disease. The study also reveals the shocking statistic that, “one in two City workers in London are more stressed at home than they are at work.”

“far worse than originally believed and the results of our study indicate that in fact, it is killing people.”

In the Fall of 2016 BioBeats partnered with BNP Paribas, one of the world’s leading financial services firms, and AXA, one of the largest insurance companies with 102M customers, to offer BNP Paribas employees access to the BioBeats platform to help them understand and effectively manage their stress. This pilot was the largest field study of workplace stress of its kind and the findings from the evidenced-based trial were remarkable.

The study monitored participants and measured heart rates in workers, finding that 'spikes' in stress occurred when people interrupted their home time with work. Participants in the study were fitted with Microsoft Bands that were able to take various biometric measurements and data continuously throughout the day for the two months of the study. A vast body of data was then gathered and analysed in BioBeats’ unique artificial intelligence engine.

Following the success of the BNP Paribas Pilot, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal published the groundbreaking paper, "The Association between Work-related Rumination and Heart Rate Variability: a Field Study." This paper, based on the BioBeats and BNP Paribas partnership, examined the neurophysiology of stress and rumination, and is the first piece of research to prove the link between rumination (the process thinking about work outside of work) and cardiovascular disease in the field.

David Plans, CEO of BioBeats and co-author of the study, stated that taking work home is, “far worse than originally believed and the results of our study indicate that in fact, it is killing people.”

Dr. Plans continued: “This study is important for two critical reasons. Firstly, it highlights a fact that we all knew, but have continued to ignore, that always working is very bad for our health. And secondly, we are now able to measure, with nearly 100% accuracy when stress levels are increasing and pinpoint exactly the long-term damage it is causing. This is a cultural problem that must be addressed sooner rather than later and we’re pleased to work with insurers as well as other corporates to help them define the problem within their organisations and tackle it together."

Reviewing the findings from the pilot, BioBeats discovered that most users showed signs of not recognising symptoms of stress, reporting to ‘Feel’ less stressed when their physiological stress was increasing. However, during the study, BioBeats uncovered high ruminators existed amongst staff. In fact, the study uncovered the incredibly high levels of stress that existed the day before, and the day after, Brexit.

Plans concluded, “The fact that businesses are beginning to choose BioBeats as the platform for stress and wellness management for their employees is a huge endorsement of the scientific and evidence based approach we are offering. BioBeats users are passionate about improving their health and we are also passionate about growing the platform to help support people as they manage, and ultimately avoid, the effects of stress and burnout.”

BioBeats also offers a consumer-facing app Hear and Now, celebrated as “Mindfulness meets the Sciences”, which allows users to instantly discover their stress triggers, as well as guiding the user through customised breathing exercises. Critically, users are able to learn pertinent health information about themselves through mind and body stress tests. The Hear and Now app is available to download globally and is free from the iTunes App store.

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About BioBeats

BioBeats is a digital health and artificial intelligence company that specialises in creating easy-to-use corporate and personal wellness solutions. Its world-class team of scientists and designers includes renowned experts in AI, machine learning, wearables, cloud solutions and theoretical computer science. BioBeats solutions, based on years of research, provide insights into individual health and wellbeing by tracking data from wearable and smartphone sensors. Biometric and psychometric feedback is combined with unique machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized stress and productivity management tools based on clinically proven coaching techniques.

Following the launch of its consumer-facing app Hear and Now (recently featured in Apple App Store’s Best New Apps, April 2016), the team now provides tools to foster wellness at scale, with bespoke corporate versions in active deployment. The company’s corporate offering provides solutions to help employees privately control their own wellness through the use of wearables and data-driven coaching.