Procedure for detection of stress by segmentation and analyzing a heart beat signal

1. Procedure for the detection of stress state associated with body balance wherein the overall cardiovascular function is substantially higher than immediate physical metabolic requirements, the procedure comprising the steps of:

measuring an ambulatory heart beat signal,

defining segments from said heart beat signal with a first chosen rule for segmentation, and

identifying and excluding at least one segment describing a physiological state with elevated cardiac activity due to physical workload and/or increased metabolic rate, if exists, and

detecting segments other than the excluded segments for a potential stress state, which is identified using a predetermined second chosen rule for the heart beat signal.

2. Procedure according to claim 1 , including the step of using the first chosen rule to identify state and period of one or more following: exercise, physical activity, movement, recovery from exercise and postural changes.

3. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the second chosen rule comprises a procedure to identify internally coherent segments from said heart beat signal.

4. Procedure according to claim 1 , including the step of using detected segments for correcting heart rate based oxygen- and energy consumption estimate.

5. Procedure according to claim 1 , including the step of determining an index representing a summary of the existence and level of stress, relaxation and/or resources for a chosen period of measurement.

6. Procedure according to claim 1 , including the step of measuring stress and relaxation on the basis of heart period measurement, wherein information on the length of detected relaxation and length of detected stress is used as informative in the detection and quantification of relaxation and stress states.

7. Procedure according to claim 1 , including the step of obtaining information on the exercise, physical activity, movement, or postural changes from said heart beat signal and at least one separate input.

8. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the stress state is defined with the formula:

STRpow

=

E

⁡

(

HR

·

CT

HFpow

·

LFpow

)

wherein HR denotes heart rate level, CT denotes inconsistencies in the frequency distribution of HRV due to changes in respiratory period, or alternatively, variability in the respiratory signal, and HFpow and LFpow denote spectral powers in the HF and LF regions of the HRV, respectively.

9. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the procedure comprises the calculation of a relaxation index a relaxation index defined by the formula:

RLXpow

=

E

⁡

(

HFpow

HR

)

wherein HR denotes heart rate level, and HFpow denotes spectral powers in the HF regions of the HRV.

10. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the procedure comprises the calculation of a total resources index a total resources index defined by the formula:

Total_resources

=

c

1

·

T

R

T

·

RLXpow

-

c

2

·

T

S

T

·

STRpow

where c 1 and c 2 are scaling constants, T is total time of the measurement, Tr is time classified as relaxation, Ts is time classified as stress, RLXpow is the intensity of relaxation state and STRpow is the intensity of stress state.

11. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the procedure is used in a wearable computer.

12. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the procedure is used in a fitness exercise equipment.

13. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the procedure is used in a PC-software.

14. Procedure according to claim 1 , wherein the procedure is used in a ECG/pulse-monitoring equipment.