October 10, 2023
Interview with the CEOs of Labfront and YourPrevention on the importance of prioritizing mental health
It’s no secret that mental health is extremely important, and this topic is relevant throughout our lives for the majority of us. Its growing importance has been recognized in recent years, and research projects have proliferated around the world. Garmin has played a role in many of these projects by leveraging data and insights from smartwatches and fitness trackers with the Garmin Health Connected Ecosystem.
Given the tremendous efforts being made around the world to raise awareness about mental health, we invited long-time Garmin Health collaborators Florian Wolf and Chris Peng for an interview. During our conversation, they talked about how he is leveraging Garmin technology in his mental health projects and exploring the potential of digital health solutions to enhance mental health care.
How are YourPrevention and Labfront contributing to the conversation around mental health?
Florian Wolf is CEO and co-founder. Your Prevention™, one of the leading science-based experts in preventive and holistic health solutions. YourPrevention takes a biopsychosocial perspective and focuses on developing prevention and stress management programs aimed at sustainably reducing the risk of mental illness and stress-related diseases.
Chris Peng is the co-founder and CEO of. lab frontis a global startup specializing in health data analysis. Labfront helps academic researchers automate research workflows and analysis. Read about researchers using Garmin technology and the Labfront platform here.
What does mental health mean to you? And why is mental health as important as physical health?
Pen (Lab Front): by who“Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with life’s stresses, fulfill their potential, learn well, work well, and contribute to their communities. It is essential to good health. It is an element.”
When assessing the importance of mental health and physical health, it is clear that they are closely intertwined and form the core of our health. There is also a complex two-way interaction between the mind and body, which is also codependent. A person’s emotional and psychological state can influence their physical state through autonomic, hormonal, and immune functions. Conversely, physical health conditions and disorders can affect neurotransmitter balance, brain structure, and mental resilience. Dysfunction in one area can lead to dysfunction in other areas. After all, you can’t be truly healthy without both.
What happens when mental health issues are ignored or left untreated for too long?
Wolf (your prevention): Continuous stress can trap individuals into harmful cycles. This is due to a neurobiological response. When stress increases, autopilot behavior occurs and conscious decision-making decreases. For example, plans for self-improvement can be thwarted in the face of ongoing stress. Giving in to autopilot can amplify symptoms, affect our outlook, and cause conditions like depression, anxiety, and burnout. These problems can persist and return to normality will take much longer than the time the problem occurred, delaying recovery and impacting both individuals and the industry.
How can data collected through Garmin smartwatches and the Connected Ecosystem be used to address issues related to mental health?
Pen (Lab Front): In contrast to physical health, mental health is not easy to physically ascertain or measure. Therefore, it is often overlooked. Data collected from Garmin watches, such as heartbeat interval (BBI), can be used to approximate and measure various states of mental health. For example, heart rate variability is derived from the BBI and has been shown to be a useful indicator of stress and stress response.
Because mental health and physical health are closely intertwined, it is also important to measure physical health or physical health habits to provide context when measuring mental health. Garmin smartwatches that measure activity and intensity can create accurate physical activity lifestyle profiles and can also be used to measure sleep.
How are Labfront and YourPrevention using Garmin in their mental health projects? What Garmin metrics and parts of the Garmin Health Connected ecosystem are used?
Pen (Lab Front): Labfront makes it super easy to collect and leverage data to measure mental health. Labfront’s algorithms can convert heart rate data from the enhanced BBI into stress measurements, such as heart rate variability, or sleep measurements, such as sleep stages and apnea. A researcher measuring mental health or considering mental health interventions can easily use his Garmin watch with Labfront to transform raw data into useful metrics.
Wolf (your prevention): YourPrevention uses Garmin metrics such as heart rate monitoring, Body Battery™ energy monitoring, and sleep tracking to track trends that analyze how a person’s health changes over days, weeks, and months. I was able to produce it. This trend can be neutral, positive, or even negative, with negative trends indicating an increased risk of poor mental health. When combined with data collected from surveys, we can build a holistic view of a person’s health and use it to help people create new habits and make the most effective changes.
How Garmin supports mental health research
Considering the statistics, the benefits of continuing to advance mental health research are clear. There are so many factors that determine our mental state, many of which are still unknown, so a better understanding of the causes and warning signs can help you get the right help at the right time. , it can make a big difference. Garmin stands ready to support a growing number of mental health research projects, including collaborations with Labfront. mental health research grants For researchers studying unknown areas of the mind. This grant will provide winners with five vívosmart® 5 fitness trackers and the Labfront Advanced Package. Ultimately, our collective goal is to champion mental health, push the boundaries of scientific discovery, and potentially contribute to improving the mental health of people everywhere.
discover how Garmin Health and a connected ecosystem It may be useful for your research project. Or, visit our website to learn more about research involving Garmin devices. Garmin Health Third-Party Research Overview page.
Garmin devices are not designed or intended to monitor or diagnose any disease or medical condition. Information about metric accuracy can be found here.