The team is also collaborating with a second business, Corporate Health Partners<\/a>, to help develop the company\u2019s health and wellness coaching programs in conjunction with the app.<\/p>\n \u201cWorkplace stress is probably the No. 1 contributor to poor overall physical and mental health of employees,\u201d says Locke. \u201cEmployee stress is related to poor work outcomes, poor satisfaction, more days missed and increased health-care costs.<\/p>\n Heart rate variability occurs when the time between heartbeats fluctuates by very small amounts, usually a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n Measuring heart rate variability is part of a behavioural change technique called \u2018biofeedback\u2019 in which individuals observe stress levels in their bodies as a way of managing their condition.<\/p>\n Brock Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Sean Locke and his team of students have formed a research partnership with a health and wellness company to test out its mobile phone app and another partnership with a health and wellness company to evaluate its coaching programs.<\/p><\/div>\n In the human body, the automatic nervous system regulates involuntary physiological processes, such as heart rate, respiration and blood pressure. There are two subdivisions: the sympathetic nervous system, which increases heart rate in \u2018flight or fight\u2019 situations, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows the heart down during rest.<\/p>\n The body maintains stability, or homeostasis, between the two sub-systems as they adjust to external situations, making these two systems constantly in flux and opposing one another.<\/p>\n \u201cHeart rate variability represents the heart\u2019s ability to respond to a variety of physiological and environmental stimuli,\u201d says Locke. He says a low heart rate variability indicates \u201cimpaired regulatory and homeostatic autonomic nervous system functions, which reduce the body\u2019s ability to cope with internal and external stressors.\u201d<\/p>\n Up until recently, measuring heart rate variability has been complicated and expensive, often requiring sophisticated machinery, such as an electrocardiogram.<\/p>\n To make this process easier and more accessible, CoreHealth Technologies created the Light Heart mobile app, which works by pressing the finger on the phone\u2019s camera and flash for one minute after which the app reports the heart rate variability.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re running a few different studies with CoreHealth Technologies to test how closely the app correlates to an electrocardiogram machine, which is the gold standard,\u201d says Locke. \u201cWe want to see how accurate the new app is compared to the gold standard.\u201d<\/p>\n CoreHealth Technologies Managing Director Anne Marie Kirby says the Light Heart app is intended to improve employee mental health by giving affordable, accessible and instantaneous feedback regarding one\u2019s stress level.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause we are introducing both a new technology and a new concept to our customers, we wanted to be sure that we fully understand the impact,\u201d says Kirby.<\/p>\n \u201cSean and his team\u2019s deep knowledge of the subject and research expertise gives us confidence in our new product,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are thrilled to see this multi-year, multi-stage human study on both efficacy and accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirby says her company will use Light Heart to advance mental health within the corporate wellness industry, aiming to use the research to partner with other wellness providers.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the team\u2019s partnership with a second company, Corporate Health Partners<\/a>, will evaluate coaching programs in conjunction with CoreHealth Technologies\u2019 Light Heart app.<\/p>\n Locke and his team will be working with the company to compare two rounds of coaching to see whether a follow-up coaching session produces a greater net benefit.<\/p>\n One is the company\u2019s current behavioural initiation coaching, which enables employees to identify a specific health change they\u2019re committed to making and track their progress. The second coaching session, practice with feedback coaching, adds an extra session in which employees discuss the progress of their goals in detail and potential barriers to success.<\/p>\n Funding the health and wellness coaching and heart rate variability research that Locke and his team of five students are conducting is Mitacs<\/a>, a national agency that supports student internship opportunities through academic-industry partnerships<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI can do research in the lab that’s really interesting and important, but to have real-world impact, we need to seek partnerships outside of the University,\u201d says Locke.<\/p>\n Workplace stress is one of the greatest contributors to chronic stress. According to a government report<\/a>, 47 per cent of Canadians say that work is the most stressful part of their daily lives, with work-related psychological health problems costing the Canadian economy $20 billion.<\/p>\n![\"Head](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Sean-Locke-RS-1050x844.jpeg\")