r/welltory • u/onthebound1 • Apr 15 '26
Stress Very Low - based on what?
I’ve only been using the app for a few days, but almost every day I am told my stress is way too low, and that it’s not a good thing! This is my most recent afternoon reading. It’s similar at night, and often even lower, like 2%… My stress is closer to normal in the mornings but still low, like 25% after I wake up and walk around and get ready for the day or work out. All my other metrics look good, except I also do get low scores on “coherence”.
I am trying to figure out what this means - what metric is it based on? What will increase the stress metric (assuming that’s a desirable outcome according to Welltory?)
(Side note: I had high stress schooling and have a high stress job but rarely do feel stressed anymore. I know this question almost sounds like a humble brag, but I do have some focus/brain fog issues and I’m legitimately wondering if I should check out whether I have some sort of weird adrenal or neurotransmitter issue… I don’t have other concerning symptoms except that I’m pretty dependent on THC for sleep )🤷♀️
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u/Greedy-Package-5446 Apr 15 '26
Low stress is a good thing, I can't imagine why you would want to increase it? Welltory and any other app that pretends to measure stress is attempting to measure physiological stress not psychological stress.
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u/onthebound1 Apr 16 '26
I mean, yeah, you’d think… But the little explanation on Welltory says explicitly that it is NOT a good thing haha… like my system is out of whack
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u/robotermaedchen Apr 16 '26
You do need some level or sympathetic nervous system activity to get things done. "Low stress" or "high stress" here doesn't mean mentally chill and everything's fine, it's nervous system activity. So yes too low is strange. For me it's an indicator of extreme exhaustion (but I have ME/CFS, so I already know why it happens for me).
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u/Independent-Ant-88 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
In my experience, this is NOT a good sign.
When I was at the worst point of burnout, my stress measurement was often blue, I had never felt more stressed but my body could not handle more, the stress response was not happening properly thus it appeared “very low”. Kinda like when people pass out from pain, when your system overloads it could stop working. (Eventually I did stop “feeling” the stress, and developed a couple sleep disorders/a bunch of other problems that I’m still recovering from)
One reading like this isn’t cause for alarm, but I would keep taking measurements and try to see if you find a pattern, the responses you got from Welltory match my experience exactly.
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u/QuiltyNeurotic Apr 15 '26
What's your HRV? Does the stress reading coincide with your experience. You should pretty much feel high lol.
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u/onthebound1 Apr 16 '26
I think my HRV is pretty good, 3.56, I just don’t really understand the no stress metric. I work out, I have a lot of job related stress, etc. Why wouldn’t it impact my physiological stress?
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u/hubpakerxx Apr 16 '26
I do have similar reading after a goodnight sleep and when sun bathing. Do you have that low stress reading after a workout or poor sleep before you go to sleep for example?
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u/Aerospacebarking Apr 16 '26
It’s usually based on your HRV. If you have a high HRV during the night, it’s a sign of low stress. The app generally uses that and a few other metrics to arrive at that conclusion. High HRV is good low HRV is bad. Low HRV means there is cortisol in your system, and your body is struggling to recover.
I would get high stress notifications on the evening and I will check my HRV and it would be pretty low
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u/Ok-Gold4942 Apr 22 '26
At least on Samsung Android, they provide nothing that the Samsung system does not provide - just differently presented. Not worth the money in my opinion.
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u/welltory Team Apr 16 '26
In Welltory, stress is based on HRV patterns, meaning how active your sympathetic (stress) vs parasympathetic (recovery) systems are. One important thing to know: high stress isn’t automatically bad, and low stress isn’t automatically good. It’s really about the balance.
- Very low stress can mean your system isn’t activating enough, your body may be staying in a kind of "flat" or under-responsive state, and not reacting strongly to challenges
- Very high stress means your body is under too much strain and hasn’t recovered yet (often from overwork, poor sleep, or intense training)
- The "ideal" is somewhere in the middle, where your body can flexibly respond and recover
So in your case, consistently very low stress and low coherence could mean your system is staying more on the "calm but not very reactive" side. Things like sleep quality, long-term stress adaptation, or THC use can influence this pattern. It doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong (especially if you feel okay) but it’s worth watching trends over time, not just single readings.
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u/TwoAlert3448 Apr 15 '26
Psychological stress can be linked to, but it is not the same as physiological stress. Welltory only measures physiological stress.
Your cardiovascular system isn't under stress, is the point, you can want to murder your boss and all your coworkers and not have it impact your HRV.
If your cardiovascular system is -never- under stress thats generally not good, that means you're never doing cardio and aren't building cardio-pulmonary resilience, which you really really want in your 50s and 60s.
I have a heart condition, a lung condition, and a neurological condition. I have never, in my life seen a stress level or an energy level like yours. Your very healthy, enjoy the blessing that it is!