Do you REALLY need an app to tell you that you’re stressed?

We’re pretty sure many of you would be able to tell if you’re stressed if you take the time to stop and listen to your body. As with all health problems there are a number of tell tale signs many of us are unfortunately far too familiar with, like a short temper, struggling to concentrate, getting regular headaches, etc. So is an app that claims to be able to tell for you just a pricey gimmick that we don’t REALLY need?

Stress Check Pro claims to “quantify and manage your emotional and physical stress levels” by getting you to place the tip of your finger on your phone’s camera lens. Yeah, we know it sounds like a load of rubbish, but the app can actually measure your heart rate variability (HRV) this way and provides you with feedback about just how stressed you are and what steps you can take to maintain your calm serenity or reduce your anxiety.

We put the app to the test a few different times throughout the day and taking a moment to measure how you’re feeling and getting some tips about how to calm down a little is handy and reassuring, but we don’t think we should all become dependant on apps to get through the day.

There’s certainly a lot of benefits to health tech and apps that promise to tell you more about how your body is doing, but we need to be wary of apps and solutions in future that pray on the vulnerability of people who are worried and add no real value to what is potentially a fascinating, useful and lucrative space.

Available from iTunes for 69p.