Abstract

QUEIROS, Cristina; OLIVEIRA, Simão; FONSECA, Sílvia Monteiro  and  MARQUES, António José. Stress at work and physiological indicators: a study with wearable sensors. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2020, vol.21, n.1, pp.183-190. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/20psd210127.

Occupational health is a growing concern, and it can be monitored through technological devices, which collect data related to psychological well-being and physiological parameters. This study aims to analyze the relationship between perceived stress, heart rate, hours of sleep and number of steps at work, in a sample of workers from technological and financial companies. During one month, in three companies from Braga district, 40 professionals assessed stress and motivation perception at the end of each working day. Through the Xiaomi Miband3^® they daily assessed hours of light/deep sleep, heart rate and number of steps. Weekly they evaluated sleep quality, stress perception and specific sources of stress within each company (total of 804 records). Moderate motivation, stress and emotional/physical/cognitive fatigue were found daily. Average number of steps was 4954, 118 minutes of deep sleep and 305 of light sleep. Weekly, stress perception and quality/amount of sleep were moderate. The most mentioned specific sources of stress were deadlines, volume/multiplicity of tasks, meetings and lack of autonomy/resources. Deep sleep correlated positively with more daily emotional/cognitive fatigue and with weekly quality/time of sleep. More longitudinal studies on occupational health need to be developed, taking advantage of these new technologies to assess workers’ psychological/physiological well-being.

Keywords : Stress; Physiological Parameters; Work; Wearable Sensors.

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