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Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

medicalxpress.com

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Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#11

Post by gessha »

Etheryte wrote: post #9
heisenbit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as little … This is exactly the opposite of what which is written in the quoted wikipedia article: > Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and patient self-measurement using a home blood pressure monitoring device is being increasingly used to differentiate those with white coat hypertension or experiencing the white coat effect from those with chronic hypertension Continuous monitoring is a viable workaround wrt. w…

Measuring your blood pressure at home is not continuous monitoring.

Continuously measuring blood pressure at home is continuous monitoring.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#12

Post by grumpy-de-sre »

I wonder if a similar technique could be used for Melatonin in saliva so that noninvasive circadian phase testing could be performed outside of the lab.

I'm convinced that if we actually looked at the circadian phase of the general population more closely we'd find A LOT of people with wonky clocks [1][2].

I've come to realize in recent months that I'm rocking a ~3h phase advance. Not terrible but it can sometimes make getting enough total sleep time challenging (bright light therapy in evenings really helps).

1. https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/07/16/depre...

2. Circadian Genes, Rhythms, and the Biology of Bipolar Disorder - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSL5hC8bzcU

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#13

Post by bradleyy »

As a Type 1 Diabetic, I'd love to have a continuous version of this to pair with my Continuous Glucose Monitor, mainly because I'm convinced that glycogen output from the liver is what's causing a lot of variability, and would explain, e.g. early morning fasting increases in blood sugar.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#15

Post by brookst »

Etheryte wrote: post #6
avidiax wrote: post #3

This is certainly an improvement over a lab test, but a continuous monitoring solution would dramatically expand the utility. You could rate employers on the median cortisol levels of their employees during and after the work day. At an individual level, those of us that are not very self-aware of our stress levels could monitor it objectively and determine stressors and implement and monitor interventions to reduce…

This is one of those ideas that might sound good when you don't think about secondary effects, but is actually commonly accepted to be a bad idea in the medical community. Similar to white coat hypertension [0], measuring your stress can induce stress, whether that's worrying about whether you're in a good range, getting more stressed when you find out you're already stressed, or etc. This is why continuous monitorin…

This is what the kids call gatekeeping, not a whole lot different from the old “if the proles are allowed to read the religious texts they will get it wrong, better limit such things to priests.”

Yes, during the transition phase where information becomes available, some people will handle it badly, misinterpret, and generally be worse off.

But that’s a terrible reason to withhold knowledge, especially about peoples’ own bodies.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#16

Post by ethan_smith »

bradleyy wrote: post #13

As a Type 1 Diabetic, I'd love to have a continuous version of this to pair with my Continuous Glucose Monitor, mainly because I'm convinced that glycogen output from the liver is what's causing a lot of variability, and would explain, e.g. early morning fasting increases in blood sugar.

What you're describing is likely the dawn phenomenon - cortisol's morning spike triggers hepatic glucose production, and continuous monitoring could finally give diabetics actionable data to adjust treatment timing accordingly.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#17

Post by alphazard »

Etheryte wrote: post #6
avidiax wrote: post #3

This is certainly an improvement over a lab test, but a continuous monitoring solution would dramatically expand the utility. You could rate employers on the median cortisol levels of their employees during and after the work day. At an individual level, those of us that are not very self-aware of our stress levels could monitor it objectively and determine stressors and implement and monitor interventions to reduce…

This is one of those ideas that might sound good when you don't think about secondary effects, but is actually commonly accepted to be a bad idea in the medical community. Similar to white coat hypertension [0], measuring your stress can induce stress, whether that's worrying about whether you're in a good range, getting more stressed when you find out you're already stressed, or etc. This is why continuous monitorin…

There's no reason to think that continuous monitoring with a comfortable wearable would contribute to a white coat syndrome. The Wikipedia link that you cited actually says that at-home blood pressure readings are more reliable than those taken by a professional in a clinic because (it is believed) that the presence of another human administering a single test is what causes stress concerning the test. With the multiple, self-administered approach, there is no single test to fixate on, and no other human administering it.

> This is why continuous monitoring is usually applied as little as reasonably possible

The reason it is applied as little as possible is because it has been prohibitively expensive. For most things there is a benefit to sampling more often, and what sampling rate is adequate is entirely dependent on the maximum frequency that you need to observe. Another way of phrasing that is if it can change quickly, then you need to sample more often.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#18

Post by Etheryte »

gessha wrote: post #11
Etheryte wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Measuring your blood pressure at home is not continuous monitoring.

Continuously measuring blood pressure at home is continuous monitoring.

Unless you plan to sit at your desk all day and do nothing but press the button on your monitor, it isn't. These are two very different things.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#19

Post by curmudgeon22 »

Etheryte wrote: post #18
gessha wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Continuously measuring blood pressure at home is continuous monitoring.

Unless you plan to sit at your desk all day and do nothing but press the button on your monitor, it isn't. These are two very different things.

There are devices called "holter monitors" that a person wears continuously and which measure your blood pressure frequently. I would call this continuous though it's more like every 15 minutes or whatever it's programmed for. It's all without your intervention. My ex bought one when they wanted more data about their high blood pressure.

Re: Artificial biosensor can better measure the body's main stress hormone

#20

Post by PaulHoule »

NoPicklez wrote: post #7
Etheryte wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of those ideas that might sound good when you don't think about secondary effects, but is actually commonly accepted to be a bad idea in the medical community. Similar to white coat hypertension [0], measuring your stress can induce stress, whether that's worrying about whether you're in a good range, getting more stressed when you find out you're already stressed, or etc. This is why continuous monitorin…

Smartwatches have been measuring all sorts from our bodies for a long time and whilst some people develop this type of thing, the majority have not. These watches have been monitoring stress in the form of HRV for many years now.

A recent studied shows that Garmin watches like the one I have give HRV stress readings that don't correlate well to self-reports of stress

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/aug/08/smartwatc...

The stress paradigm is probably the most holistic idea in medicine and I think any attempt to break it down to a number is reductivist.

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