Understanding the impact of stress on our daily lives is necessary to be able to improve people’s wellbeing, and public health in general. If stress occurs too frequently and stress levels remain high for a long time, this can lead to depression, anxiety and even burnout. Stress is also thought to contribute to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity.
“Stress affects all aspects of our lives”, says research leader and Amsterdam UMC professor Brenda Penninx (Psychiatric Epidemiology). “According to the World Health Organisation, stress-related diseases represent the greatest burden of disease and they are a major threat to our wellbeing and even to a healthy economy.”
Studying stress in practice
Despite the fact that stress is such a major threat, there is still only very limited knowledge about how it works. Even the most recent studies have not yet provided any insight into stress reactions in practice, and how these differ from one individual to the next. What makes people stressed? How can we measure this? What behaviour can people themselves change to reduce stress? How do stress reactions influence the course of stress-related diseases? In Stress-in-Action, instead of investigating these questions in the lab, the researchers will seek answers in practice.
Applying new technology
But what exactly do the scientists want to investigate? “For example, we are going to measure how reactions to stress in daily life are influenced by the interplay between disposition, environment, time and person-specific factors”, explains VU Amsterdam professor Eco de Geus (Biological Psychology). “We also want to develop a method to reliably measure stress in a specific individual in everyday life, in real time. And we want to investigate how and when beneficial stress responses transform into into detrimental effects on mental and physical health.”
By applying new technologies such as artificial intelligence, researchers will be able to research stress and its impact on humans better and faster. This will enable the development of new monitoring programmes and intervention strategies to track stress in everyday life and reduce its impact on health.
Understanding data with AI
“Stress is a very complex concept and depends on many interacting factors”, explains VU Amsterdam professor Mark Hoogendoorn (AI & Health). “Today, we can measure many of these factors using a variety of wearable devices, such as smartwatches, and a range of other measuring instruments. But the sheer volume of data makes it very complex to detect patterns in it, and this is where AI can help.”
Hoogendoorn will investigate whether it is possible to use AI to detect stress-related problems developing at an early stage. Once detected, a proactive intervention can be proposed. “This will also improve our understanding of the concept of stress. However, the data is extremely challenging to work with. Innovations in the field of AI will be needed to process this data to the best possible effect, and we will also be working on that.”
Gravitation Grant
VU Amsterdam has received a Gravitation Grant (€19.6 million) from the government for the Stress-in-Action project. During the next ten years, the grant will enable the researchers from VU Amsterdam and Amsterdam UMC to collaborate intensively with researchers from UMC Groningen, the University of Groningen, Erasmus MC and the University of Twente. In total, the government has awarded over €142 million to seven consortia with leading scientists from various Dutch universities.
Read the press release about the Gravitation Grant or visit the Stress-in-Action website.