1. What the heart knows
www.salwe.fi
What can we discover about health, well-being and performance by analysing heartbeats?
Part of SalWe’s Mind and Body Programme has been a study of stress, recovery and exercise,
carried out by measuring over 2,000 days of heart rate information. The analysis used techniques
developed by Firstbeat Technologies Ltd.
According to the World Health Organisation WHO,
35 percent of the world’s adult population in 2008
was overweight. The prevalence of obesity has almost
doubled since the 1980s. Of the 347 million diabetics
in the world, most suffer from type 2 diabetes, which
has been firmly linked to obesity. It is estimated that,
by 2030, diabetes will be the seventh most common
cause of death.
The onset of type 2 diabetes can be delayed or entirely
avoided by healthy lifestyles. In treating the problems
caused by obesity, lifestyle changes are generally at
least as effective as medication.
Part of normal everyday routine
The effect of welfare programmes was studied in SalWe’s
Mind and Body Programme. The work brought together
the Universities of Jyväskylä, Helsinki and Eastern Finland,
VTT Technical Research Centre and the Institute of Occupational Health. The companies involved were Firstbeat
Technologies plus Duodecim Publishing, Vivago, Valio
and the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service.
SalWe - Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation in Health and Well-being

2. The aim of the study was to help people who suffer from stress and obesity to change their lifestyles
and improve their quality of life. There were 318 test
subjects who answered questionnaires and had their
physiological capabilities measured. The study used
small Firstbeat monitors that allowed heartbeats to be
recorded without disrupting the subjects’ normal lives.
It also took advantage Firstbeat’s innovative way of
analysing heart rate and heart rate variability, which
provided data on stress, recovery and exercise.
Reasonable recovery from stress
“We recorded the heartbeats of the test subjects for
three days before their participation in psychological
welfare programmes and again for three days afterwards. We then followed up with recordings half a
year after the programmes had ended,” explains Tero
Myllymäki, a researcher at the Psychology Department
of Jyväskylä University.
“The initial results show that the subjects recovered
fairly well from the stress they experienced during the
day. However, too many of them had forgotten about
exercise, so at least one pillar of their well-being was
precarious.”
Benefits of multi-disciplinary studies
Firstbeat Technologies is a Jyväskylä-based welfare
technology company that is growing and expanding
abroad. Its innovative products and monitoring techniques have already been used by a million people
for analyses in the fields of sports and occupational
welfare.
The techniques produce precise data that can be used
to support decisions about personal welfare and performance. The information also provides an incentive
to change lifestyle and to make daily choices that will
promote well-being.
“We seek to work with researchers and experts at the
forefront of the welfare sector. The multi-disciplinary
projects initiated by SalWe have been a great opportunity to increase our own understanding of the factors
affecting human welfare,” says Joni Kettunen, CEO of
Firstbeat Technologies.
“At the same time, we can make a contribution with
internationally unique techniques for evaluating
stress, recovery and exercise. This is what we offer
researchers.”
The project has been important to the company in
developing its business operations.
“Firstbeat is founded on the principle that its products
and services are derived from research data. In the
growing market for welfare technologies, scientific
data gives us a competitive edge that is vital for longterm success.”
More information
Joni Kettunen
CEO
Firstbeat Technologies Oy
joni.kettunen@firstbeat.fi
+358 50 324 0889
Tero Myllymäki
project researcher
Jyväskylä University psychology department
tero.myllymaki@jyu.fi
+358 40 805 4513
SalWe - Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation in Health and Well-being