# Stress, as it happens. > https://meetkeely.com/stress · Updated 2026-09-28 · Keely, by Metrica Fit LLC **Keely’s Stress is a score from 0 to 100.** It compares your heart rate and heart-rate variability with your own calm, awake reference, in 5-minute windows. It’s scored only while you’re still, so a workout or a walk never counts as stress. - **Levels:** Calm 0–25, Mild 26–50, Elevated 51–75, High 76–100 - **Inputs:** Heart rate and RMSSD over 5 minutes, from at least 20 clean beat pairs - **Compared with:** Your calm and awake reference, from your nightly baselines - **Live:** With your Loop connected and Keely open - **Otherwise:** From the Loop’s 24/7 data at each sync, with its time - **Moments:** 10 minutes above 50 by day, or above 30 at night ## What the score means - Calm: 0–25 - Mild: 26–50 - Elevated: 51–75 - High: 76–100 Sitting calm and awake reads about 20; deep sleep reads about 2. A heart rate 8 beats a minute above your calm with 30 % less variability reads 60, Elevated. 20 beats above with half the variability reads 93, High. Stress says what your heart is doing, not why. Anything that raises your heart rate or lowers your HRV while you sit still reads the same way: a tense meeting, caffeine, a warm room, a big meal, alcohol or illness. ## Only while you’re still Movement raises your heart rate for reasons that aren’t stress, so Keely doesn’t score it. A 5-minute window shows as *Active*, never as stress, when: - any minute in it has more than 10 steps, or the Loop rates it as more than light activity; - it overlaps a workout; - your heart rate is at or above your Zone 1 floor, which catches rides and lifting that barely move the wrist. After activity, windows stay unscored while your heart rate settles, as long as it’s more than 15 beats a minute above resting: for up to 30 minutes after a workout, and up to 10 minutes after a walk. ## How the score is computed Both signals are compared with a *calm and awake* reference taken from your nightly baselines: your resting heart rate plus 12 beats a minute, and about 78 % of your nightly HRV. ``` zHR = (HR − (resting HR + 12)) ÷ 8 zRMSSD = (ln RMSSD − (ln nightly HRV − 0.25)) ÷ 0.35 s = 0.9 × zHR − 0.9 × zRMSSD Stress = 100 ÷ (1 + e^−(s − 1.4)) ``` Without enough clean beats for RMSSD, heart rate carries the reading alone: s = 1.2 × zHR. Until you have 3 nights, Keely uses your profile’s resting heart rate (or 60) and an HRV of 45 ms, and treats the reading as provisional. ## Live and stored - **Live.** With your Loop connected and Keely open, heart rate and beat intervals stream from the band, and the score covers the last five minutes once they hold two minutes of heart rate. The stillness rule still applies: a minute where the Loop flags at least half its beats for movement or lost contact counts as moving. - **Stored.** The rest of the time, Keely scores the Loop’s 24/7 data when it syncs, and labels the reading with its time, such as “As of 11:20”. Gaps stay gaps. ## Moments A moment is when stress stood out: at least two windows in a row (10 minutes) above 50 during the day, or above 30 at night. Moments show on the timeline, day and night. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why is my stress high when I feel calm? Stress reads your heart, not your mood. Caffeine, heat, a big meal, alcohol, illness or a hard day behind you can raise your heart rate and lower your HRV while you sit still, and Keely can’t tell those apart from a tense moment. ### Does exercise count as stress? No. Keely only scores windows when you’re still. Workouts, walks and the minutes while your heart rate settles afterwards show as Active instead. ### Why does it say Active when I’m sitting down? Your heart rate may still be settling after a workout or a walk, or the Loop may have flagged movement in the last few minutes. The reading returns once you’ve been still and your heart rate is back near your calm. ### Is Keely’s Stress a measure of anxiety? No. It’s a physiological estimate from heart rate and HRV for wellbeing, not a psychological or medical assessment. ## Keep reading - [Recovery](https://meetkeely.com/recovery): Keely’s Recovery is a 0–100 % score each morning: last night’s HRV, resting heart rate, sleep, breathing and skin temperature against your own normal. - [Sleep](https://meetkeely.com/sleep): Keely shows your night from the Polar Loop as a story: stages with heart rate, HRV and stress, time asleep against your need, consistency and a lights-out time. - [Methodology](https://meetkeely.com/methodology): How Keely computes Recovery, Load, Stress and Sleep from your Polar Loop: every input, weight and constant, published so that each number can be checked. Keely is coming to the App Store for iPhone (iOS 26 or later). Need a Polar Loop? https://meetkeely.com/loop (an affiliate link: as an Amazon Associate, Metrica Fit earns from qualifying purchases).