Professor Sungkyu Park presents the first open-access dataset combining continuous heart rate variability (HRV) measurements from smartwatches with mental health assessments in real-world environments. The study collected over 33,000 hours of data from 49 participants wearing Samsung smartwatch devices for four weeks, capturing photoplethysmography (PPG) signals alongside daily sleep diaries and validated clinical surveys (PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI). Unlike previous laboratory-based studies, this research demonstrates the feasibility of gathering clinically relevant biosignals at scale using open-source tools while maintaining privacy. Computed HRV features show expected circadian patterns and correlations with sleep and movement behaviors. These findings provide crucial evidence for developing public health policies that leverage continuous digital biomarker monitoring for early detection and prevention of mental health disorders at the population level, enabling a shift from reactive clinical interventions to proactive, community-based mental wellness surveillance systems.

You can find a full paper at the following link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-05801-3

Figure. Overview of the study design over four weeks.