Energy Balance

the energy balance metric reflects the equilibrium within our body’s autonomic nervous system (ans) the ans regulates nearly all unconscious functions and processes in the body such as breathing, heart rate, and digestion it operates through two complementary parts the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which ideally should remain balanced throughout the day the sympathetic nervous system acts as the body’s "gas pedal," enabling quick responses in stressful situations, like the "fight or flight" response it releases adrenaline, raising heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate, and therefore consumes energy conversely, the parasympathetic nervous system serves as the "brake pedal" or "battery charger," promoting rest, relaxation, and recovery it lowers heart rate and blood pressure and helps the body recharge, conserving energy and aiding in recovery the energy balance metric quantifies the relationship between these two systems, offering insight into the body’s current state understanding one’s energy balance is key to managing emotional self control, executive function, and stress responses when the autonomic nervous system is imbalanced or overloaded, symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, and digestive issues can arise by monitoring the energy balance, users can make more informed decisions about activities and goals, working in harmony with their body’s current state for optimal well being how is it calculated? the energy balance results from the calculation of the pns and sns indices the starting point for the calculation of these two indices is the photoplethysmogram signal (ppg signal) acquired from the face the pns index is based on the following parameters (compared to their normal population values) mean rr interval; root mean square of successive rr interval differences (rmssd); poincaré plot index sd1 in normalized units the sns index, on the other hand, is calculated using the following parameters mean hr interval; baevsky's stress index (si); poincaré plot index sd2 in normalized units when is the first reading available? users must complete at least two face scans within one week to obtain an initial reading the first result will be available the day after the second face scan accuracy a benchmarking study was performed to compare the video derived energy balance score from the simultaneous calculated contact ppg signal derived energy balance all subjects were asked to complete a mathematical exercise during measurement to increase their sns activity a clear shift towards sns activity can be observed, which was also picked up by the intelliprove algorithms in 96% of the cases where an increased sns activity was observed through the use of a contact ppg signal, the intelliprove algorithms also correctly indicated a shift towards sns activity how can it be used? our overall wellbeing and feeling of mental resilience is generally regulated by our ans many studies show a good correlation between an ans balance shift towards sns and cardiovascular diseases (cvd) and mental health issues leveraging the energy balance metric holds significant therapeutic benefits, allowing for tailored wellbeing interventions aimed at restoring this balance by doing so, a more personalized and effective feedback mechanism can be achieved furthermore, individuals facing elevated or chronic mental health challenges may encounter difficulties in reducing the sns activity and require additional active training or support addressing these nuances can substantially enhance the overall efficiency of therapy when an energy imbalance is detected, this is the starting point of personalised feedback to take action detect underlying issues through a short questionnaire, connect with a therapist or other healthcare provider, recommend stress management modules and/or guide the user to relevant platform content/offerings interpreting results the energy balance is returned as an integer on a scale of 5 to 5 and can be requested as a widgets docid\ oorapckooi6 89xrafduv or via the rest api docid\ biupvixvhltbukklr2ati definitions name unit range programmatic name health profile energy balance na / score between 5 and 5 5 > 5 energy balance energy & sleep values value meaning zone example user text ( 5) and ( 4) strong imbalance towards sns activity red your energy balance indicates a greater dominance of the sympathetic branch, which is associated with the "fight or flight" response the body is experiencing deeper levels of stress or fatigue to avoid over training or over stressing it is highly recommended to prioritize rest ( 3) moderate imbalance towards sns activity yellow your energy balance indicates a greater dominance of the sympathetic branch, which is associated with the "fight or flight" response indicates greater than usual stress (from all sources) energy levels may be elevated for long term results, consider lighter exercise and/or reducing stressful activities ( 2), ( 1), 0, 1 and 2 relatively balanced pns and sns green your energy balance indicates the balance between recovery and physiological stress (both physical and mental) the body is typically the most flexible and capable when the energy balance is in equilibrum 3 moderate imbalance towards pns activity green your energy balance indicates a greater dominance of the parasympathetic branch, which is associated with the "rest and digest" response recovery activity is slightly elevated energy levels may be lower this state is often correlated with overreaching in training or fighting off mild or early illness 4 and 5 strong relative pns activity yellow your energy balance indicates a greater dominance of the parasympathetic branch, which is associated with the "rest and digest" response indicates excessive recovery activity, often in response to cumulative stress or elevated immune system activity the table above shows value the possible values for the health insight meaning what does the value mean zone we distinguish three zones, useful – for example when creating a widget to clarify the feel towars the user green = optimal to normal yellow = normal to average red = outside the typical range; may require attention example user text an example of what could be communicated to the user in case this value is measured scientific papers nitzan m, babchenko a, khanokh b, landau d the variability of the photoplethysmographic signal a potential method for the evaluation of the autonomic nervous system physiol meas 1998 feb;19(1) 93 102 budidha k, kyriacou pa 2019 photoplethysmography for quantitative assessment of sympathetic nervous activity during cold stress front physiol 10 331 udhayakumar r, rahman s, buxi d, macefield vg, dawood t, mellor n, karmakar c measurement of stress induced sympathetic nervous activity using multi wavelength ppg r soc open sci 2023 aug 30;10(8) 221382