Do you have a Fitbit Sense or Charge 5? Are you wondering what is EDA scan on it, and how to do an EDA scan on Fitbit? If your answer is yes to both of these questions, then this article is for you. Here I’m going to explain what is EDA scan and how you can manage your stress with the help of an EDA scan on your Fitbit Sense and Charge 5. So without any delay, let’s get to it.
Quick Navigation
- Quick Takeaway
- What Is EDA Scan On Fitbit? How Does It Work?
- How To Do An EDA Scan On Fitbit
- Are EDA Scans On Fitbit Worth It?
- Final Verdict
- FAQs
Quick Takeaway
EDA Scan on Fitbit measures your skin conductivity to determine precipitation of micro sweat which may indicate stress. To perform an EDA scan on your Fitbit, swipe left or right from the clock face to find the EDA Scan icon. Select it, adjust the duration as per your convenience, and tap on start.
What Is EDA Scan On Fitbit? How Does It Work?
Stress is a response of your body when it is going through pressure which can be physical, mental, or emotional. Your body secretes sweat in response to stress. EDA, short for electrodermal activity also known as galvanic skin response or GSR can measure the difference in the electrical conductivity of your skin due to the increased activity of sweat glands.
High stress over a long period can often affect your body and can have a major impact on your overall health. Therefore measuring stress can often help you identify and address the issues that can impact your health. The EDA scan on Fitbit can help you keep track of your stress levels over a period and reduce those stress levels by engaging in a mindfulness activity.
So basically an EDA scan can measure the changed conductivity of your skin due to micro sweat produced in response to stress or excitement. The calmer you are the fewer EDA responses you will get during your session.
How To Do An EDA Scan On Fitbit
The process to start or use the EDA scan on Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Charge 5 and Fitbit Sense 2 is the same but the steps may differ just a tad. So, below I have mentioned the steps for each of these devices separately.
Fitbit Charge 5
1. Swipe right on the clockface of your Fitbit to find EDA Scan and tap on it.
2. Now, you can just tap on the play icon to start the scan. You can also adjust the duration of the scan by swiping up and tapping on edit length. You can choose from anywhere between 2 to 7 minutes.
3. To measure the EDA level, you have to place your thumb and index finger on the sensors present on both sides of your Fitbit Charge 5.
If you take off your fingers then the scan will automatically stop and will resume upon contact with the sensors again.
After the session has ended, you will be asked how you feel. To log your mood, just swipe up and select your mood. You can skip this if you want, as you can also log your moods later on your Fitbit app. After this, you will be shown your total EDA responses along with your heart rate during the session.
Fitbit Sense
1. Swipe left from the home screen and tap on EDA Scan.
2. After that select Quick Scan or you can also scroll down to choose Guided Session for a more meditative experience.
3. After tapping on Quick Scan, you need to place your Palm to cover the watch face. Make sure your palm is in contact with the watch case or bezel where the EDA sensor is.
4. Your Fitbit Sense will vibrate to indicate the starting and ending of the session. The session will automatically pause if you take your hand off from the sensor and will resume automatically upon contact again.
After the session, you will see the number of EDA responses you had along with your heart rate at the beginning and end of the session.
Fitbit Sense 2
The steps to initiate the manual EDA scan on Fitbit Sense 2 are the same as those of Fitbit Sense. However, the Sense 2 comes with better cEDA stress tracking which can continuously track your stress levels throughout the day, unlike its predecessor which can only start an EDA scan manually. The Fitbit Sense 2 will notify you whenever your stress levels increase.
To enable it follow the below-mentioned steps.
1. Keep swiping left from your home screen to find the Body responses tile and tap on Open to continue the setup on your Fitbit mobile application.
2. You will get a notification on your mobile which upon tapping will take you to the Stress Management section. If you do not receive the notification then open the Fitbit application and select Stress Management manually.
3. After that you will see two informative pages on which you can tap next. Now the third page will be Identify body responses. On that page, you have to scroll down and enable Body responses and notifications by tapping on the toggle in front and selecting next. Rest is a pretty standard tutorial process that you can skip if you want.
And that is it, now you will get a notification on your Fitbit Sense 2 every time you have an elevated body response. You can scroll down to record how you’re feeling at the moment, and it will be saved on the Fitbit app.
Are EDA Scans On Fitbit Worth It?
As useful as it may seem at first glance, are EDA scans worth it? You see any feature, no matter how advanced it may be is only useful if it can relay reliable accurate information simply and understandably. And according to many users, that is not the case with EDA scans. EDA Scans on Fitbit felt like a gimmicky feature, as it showed inaccurate results many times.
The EDA responses are just telling you that your body is either stressed or excited. You will have to manually log your mood, which does not feel very useful. Some users have even shared that they got more stressed trying to take their EDA scans and figuring their way around it. Users claimed that they had multiple scenarios where they were stressed but the EDA scans showed the average EDA reading.
Another reason EDA scans are not that reliable is that they can easily affected by external factors to give inaccurate readings.
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Final Verdict
In conclusion, the EDA scans measure your skin conductivity through micro sweat beads which may indicate stress or excitement. Though it seems an advanced and scientific feature that may be beneficial to some, the majority of users have stated that EDA scans are not that accurate and not that useful in managing stress. Above I’ve mentioned the steps to perform EDA scans on Fitbit Charge 5, Sense & Sense 2.
FAQs
What Is Normal EDA Level?
The unit for measuring skin conductance is micro siemens. 1 to 20 micro siemens is considered normal EDA range.
What Is The Difference Between EDA And ECG?
The ECG sensor measures your heart's electrical activity while the EDA sensor measures micro sweat on your palms or fingers which can indicate stress.
How Accurate Are EDA Scans?
EDA scans measure stress with up to 94% accuracy in a controlled environment using proper equipment.
