Stress-busting activities can have positive impact on heart variability, says expert

Two employees with stressful jobs have undergone an experiment to understand how various practices can tackle modern-day stress.

Zak, a pastry chef from Manchester and Hannah, a teacher from Essex, were initially instructed to attach a wearable monitor to measure their heart rate variability over a 72-hour period.

“My area of interest is how we resist stress more effectively,” said physiologist Oliver Patrick during the ITV Tonight special, Stress: Can You Beat It? After learning the pair were not allowing their bodies time to recover from stress, he instructed them to try adding some stress-busting techniques into their routine.

These included mindful eating, reading and spiritual practices such as Yoga. “We’re looking to see, have the thing that they’ve changed made a difference to time spent physiologically stressed and time spent physiologically relaxed,” Oliver explained.

“I’m excited to see whether we’ve got some early progress.” After receiving advice from the expert, the pair successfully added a variety of hobbies into their routine in an attempt to prioritise stress recovery.

Hannah explained how she began listening to audiobooks on her way to work while making sure to take dedicated lunch breaks in enclosed spaces where she wouldn’t be intruded on. After heading home from work, she implemented exercises such as running outdoors.“[The experiment] has brought me back to some hobbies,” she exclaimed.

Chef Zak followed similar routines, including ditching his on-the-go eating habits. Instead, he began mindfully eating at work and tried to spend more time outdoors once clocking off.

“You’re in nature, you’re not thinking about all the stresses,” he gushed during the ITV one-off. “You’re living in the moment.”

After discovering Hannah and Zak had successfully been trying to lower their stress levels, Oliver took some new heart rate variability readings.

He discovered that their lifestyle changes had improved their data.

“Zak’s second set of data has improved significantly. He’s more physically active, we’re seeing a better stress balance and we’re also starting to see his body going into physiological recovery before he falls asleep.

Speaking about Hannah’s improvement, the expert said: “We’re seeing on her journey to work, some recovery, we’re seeing in this yoga, more recovery.

“The challenge now is sustaining this,” he added.

Oliver’s devised experiment showed that stress-relieving activities could have a positive effect on reducing tension in the body.

You can watch Stress: Can You Beat It? on ITVX now.