Stress Under Control with VedaPulse

What Is Stress?

The word “stress” comes from the Latin stringere — “to draw tight” or “to tighten.” The term “stress” was first used in the works of the English poet Robert Manning in 1303. The concept of stress was later introduced into the scientific and medical context largely through the work of Hans Selye, a Canadian pathologist and endocrinologist. He defined stress as a set of nonspecific responses of the body to demands placed upon it and developed the concept of the General Adaptation Syndrome.

Stress occurs in response to stressors — factors that require the body to adapt. These may include physical exertion, emotional experiences, sudden temperature changes, information overload, demanding intellectual tasks, and other forms of strain.

Eustress and Distress

Depending on the nature and consequences of the response, two forms of stress are commonly distinguished:

Eustress is a stress response associated with the mobilization of resources and potentially supporting adaptation.

Distress is a state in which the demands placed on the body exceed its adaptive capacity and the response becomes unfavorable.

Therefore, it is important to consider not only whether stress is present, but also how the body responds to it and how effectively it recovers after the stress load.

What Happens to the Body During Stress?

Stress is accompanied by changes in the functioning of various regulatory systems of the body. The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in the adaptive response by regulating internal organs and supporting the transition between states of activity and recovery.

After a stressful event, the body needs to return to a state of relative balance. If recovery is impaired, tension may persist longer than necessary for the particular situation.

Research by neuroscientists and psychotherapists suggests that the first hour after a stressful event may be particularly important for processing the experience without further consequences. Researchers have referred this as critical period during which the brain may shift toward deeper recovery or maintain a state of heightened anxiety.

Two important networks are involved in the brain’s response to stress. The first is the salience network (SN), sometimes described as an “alarm system” for detecting potential threats. It becomes active during danger, conflict, or acute stress, directing attention toward possible threats.

The second is the default mode network (DMN), associated with internal reflection and resting-state brain activity. It becomes more active when we are not focused on tasks in the external environment.

According to the research referred to in this context, approximately one hour after a stressful event, people with greater resilience may show a decrease in salience-network activity and an increase in activity associated with the brain’s resting and recovery processes. At the same time, cortisol levels decline relatively slowly, so complete physiological recovery may take anywhere from several hours to several days.

This is why working with stress involves more than subjective feelings alone. It is also important to assess objective indicators of the body’s functional state.

How Can VedaPulse Help Assess the Body’s Response to Stress?

VedaPulse provides a functional assessment of the body’s state and allows specialists to obtain objective indicators related to regulation and adaptation.

When heart rate variability is assessed, patterns in cardiointervals can reflect characteristics of autonomic regulation. Under stress, changes may manifest differently in people with different baseline patterns of regulation.

The first hour after a stressful event may be particularly important: what can be done during this period to help the brain return to a calmer state?

Specialists advise minimizing additional stimulation during this “golden hour” — for example, avoiding excessive social media scrolling and repeatedly replaying the stressful situation mentally. Such stimulation may be perceived by the brain as a signal that the situation is not yet safe.

In VedaPulse, several indicators and sections can be used to assess the body’s response to stress and monitor recovery after a stressful load.

Psychophysiology Tab

Stress Tension Level helps assess the degree of tension in regulatory systems and characteristics of autonomic regulation.

Stress Index characterizes the degree of tension in regulatory mechanisms and the body’s ability to adapt to mental and physical loads.

The scale used in the system includes different value ranges:

• 60–120 units — narrow reference range;
• 30–200 units — broad reference range;
• below 30 and above 200 units — values requiring additional attention;
• above 500 units — pronounced tension of adaptive systems;
• above 1,000 units — extremely high values requiring specialist attention and assessment in the context of other indicators.

When interpreting the results, it is important to consider the complete set of assessment data rather than viewing an individual indicator in isolation.

Energy Level Index

This indicator helps assess changes in the body’s energy state. In cases of a pronounced stress response, different ranges of decreased energy levels may be visualized.

Psychoemotional State Assessment

This section provides the specialist with additional information about the person’s psychoemotional state in combination with other functional assessment results.

Biohacking Software Module

The Biohacking module complements the functional assessment and allows the body’s state to be considered from the perspective of adaptation, recovery, and potential functional risks.

This comprehensive approach allows specialists to go beyond simply identifying the presence of a stress load and instead assess changes in the body’s functional state over time.

What Can Be Done After a Stress Load?

Assessment is only the first step. It is also important to create conditions for recovery and select appropriate individualized practices.

VedaPulse can be used as a tool for monitoring the body’s state before and after various recovery practices, allowing specialists to track changes in relevant indicators over time.

Aroma-Respiratory Training

The Aroma Encyclopedia software module can be used when incorporating breathing practices into a recovery program.

ART — Aroma-Respiratory Training — is a technology that allows an individualized breathing-training protocol to be created, with modified phases of the breathing cycle combined with an individual aroma composition.

The selection of the program may take into account constitutional characteristics and stress-resilience indicators obtained during the functional assessment.

Breathing practices can also be used as an independent element of a recovery program. For example, “box breathing” involves equal-duration phases of inhalation, breath retention, exhalation, and the following breath retention.

Meditation Module

Another tool for working with the body’s state is the Meditation software module.

In biofeedback mode, the user focuses on changes in their own heart rhythm and learns to regulate their level of internal tension.

For example, in the Flower scenario, training results are visualized through an animation of blooming flowers: the greater the relaxation, the more flowers appear on the screen.

The Strength Awakening scenario is designed as a game-based training exercise. The user influences the game process by changing their own state and reducing internal tension.

Thus, meditation and breathing practices can be used not only as subjectively perceived methods of relaxation, but also as components of a structured program with the possibility of objectively monitoring changes.

VedaPulse in Stress Management

Working with stress is not simply about trying to reduce tension as quickly as possible. It is important to understand how the body responds to a load, how effectively it recovers, and what resources are available at a given moment.

VedaPulse allows specialists to:

• assess the body’s functional state and characteristics of autonomic regulation;
• analyze indicators associated with stress-related tension;
• assess recovery potential;
• use assessment results to individualize recovery practices;
• monitor changes in indicators over time.

This approach enables specialists to build a more consistent workflow when working with stress loads:
assess the state → select an individualized practice → reassess changes → adjust the program.

Hans Selye described stress as the “salt of life.” Stress is indeed a part of everyday life, while the body’s ability to adapt to challenges and recover afterward is an important component of its functional state.

VedaPulse helps specialists make this work more structured, objective, and personalized.