New Device Tracks Stress Levels In Attempt To Manage It

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Wearable monitors are often used to track your daily physical activity, but there's a new option that now allows wearers to keep tabs on their stress levels.

It's called "Spire."

Stress is a daily part of life for working mother of three Dr. Liz Scheufele.

So we asked her to try out "Spire".

"It's probably one of the cutest 'wearables' I've seen in a while," Dr. Scheufele said.

Users just clip on Spire, and it tracks the patterns of their breath to determine if you're calm, focused or tense.

"It kind of shows you how you're doing," she said.

If the breathing speeds up too much, Spire buzzes and a message pops up on your iPhone reminding you to take a deep breath.

"There were a couple of times, usually involved watching all three kids at one time," Dr. Scheufele admitted.

"That simplicity of the feedback is what makes it so applicable and what makes it so actionable in daily life," said Neema Moraveji, Spire's co-founder. "You can take a deep breath without stopping what you're doing, without distracting from what you're doing."

While technology may add to modern-day stress levels, Moraveji says there's no realistic escape.

"The question became how could technology change and improve our state of mind," he said.

Along with alerts sent as needed, users can track and compare their activity levels and state of mind day-to-day.

And Dr. Liz recognizes how important the right kind of breathing can be.

"The exercise of deep breathing to bring you out of that tense state. I think it's highly valuable," she said.

"I think it's great," said Spire user Peter Kazanjy.

Kazanjy said Spire has made him more mindful of his breathing and daily stress levels.

"You kind of notice things like maybe I'm hunched over and I'm not doing as deep breathing through my diaphragm as I should be," he explained.

According to Spire, Liz was more in control of her breathing than she realized, but she also thought the device gave her some false alarms.

If you'd like to try Spire, it costs around $150 and is not considered a medical device.