A method for characterizing daily physiology from widely used wearables

Summary: Millions of wearable-device users record their heart rate (HR) and activity. We introduce a statistical method to extract and track six key physiological parameters from these data, including an underlying circadian rhythm in HR (CRHR), the direct effects of activity, and the effects of meals, posture, and stress through hormones like cortisol. We test our method on over 130,000 days of real-world data from medical interns on rotating shifts, showing that CRHR dynamics are distinct from those of sleep-wake or physical activity patterns and vary greatly among individuals. Our method also estimates a personalized phase-response curve of CRHR to activity for each individual, representing a passive and personalized determination of how human circadian timekeeping continually changes due to real-world stimuli. We implement our method in the “Social Rhythms” iPhone and Android app, which anonymously collects data from wearable-device users and provides analysis based on our method. Motivation: The exploding popularity of wearable devices, now a multi-billion dollar industry, provides a new opportunity for real-world data collection. Here, we propose a statistical method for analysis of ambulatory wearable-device data that can estimate circadian rhythms. Accounting for circadian rhythms in HR will allow more accurate measurement of other physiological parameters, e.g., basal HR, how activity increases HR, and changes in HR due to infection.