Dot Calm Stress Trackers

Dot Calm wearable stress trackers and cards change color based on your stress level and teach you when and how to relax. Watch the Dot Calm video in the right column for a quick stress dot introduction.

Dot Calm Fast Facts

  • Stress dots measure approximate skin temperature and stress level
  • Dots are designed to raise your awareness of your stress, not as a diagnosis of your health
  • They are intended for indoor use with an air temperature of about 72F/38C
  • If your hands and feet are often cold, your dot will probably stay black and brown, but this does not mean that you are always stressed
  • Stress dots work for about two weeks of total time on your hand
  • Dots can stay on your Dot Calm card when not in use
  • They’ll last for a couple of years if kept on the card in a cool dry place
  • Mood rings were created from stress dots which were first used by healthcare providers

How Your Stress Dot Works

Stress dots measure your skin temperature which is affected by your blood flow. When you are stressed–even by minor “back-of-the-mind” challenges and demands such as a distant jackhammer or upcoming math exam, blood is directed to the heart and brain where it is needed to fight or flee (this response is automatic and part of our survival mechanism that kicks in when we think of occurrences as demanding or negative). When your blood is concentrated around your heart and brain (organs chritical to fighting and fleeing), less blood makes its way to your hands which lowers their skin temperature. Lower skin temps cause your dot to turn brown and black, while warmer ones make it go blue and purple.

Tips For Using Your Dot To Reduce Stress

Think of your stress dot as a dashboard indicator that offers you a quick check of what’s going on inside your body. It will remind you to take note of how you are feeling from time to time during the day; if you notice that your monitor is brown or black, you might take action to make it go blue. Doing so can prevent eye strain from becoming a bad headache, annoyances from sparking an angry outburst, or nervousness from triggering a panic episode.

Here are some examples of how to use your dot calm tracker to prevent and reduce stress:

  • You’re sitting in traffic and your stress dot is black: use Quick Calm or another stress reduction technique in our Relax Now! area
  • You’ve been whacking your keyboard for three hours and your stress dot is brown: take a 5-minute break, rest your eyes, and/or massage your hands, neck and shoulders
  • Every time a certain colleague speaks, your dot bolts to black: explain what he/she’s doing to you and either leave the room or figure out together how to reverse your dot’s direction
  • You are trying to fall asleep and your dot is green: try a guided imagery exercise, read a book, or write down what’s keeping you awake
  • You’re laughing with friends and your dot is blue: schedule more time with these friends and others who make you feel good







Training And Teaching Activities

Stress dots are crowd-pleasers because they tell workshop participants and students something about themselves in a cool new way. Trainers and teachers love them because they engage audiences and are an excellent tool for talking about stress, wellness and mindfulness. Here are some strategies for using stress dots to boost learning and interaction:

  • Stick a stress dot on the hands of your audience members when they arrive, but don’t hand out the cards yet
  • The dotted will watch their stress dots, compare them with others and wonder what the colors mean
  • Call out the color possibilities and ask participants to raise their hands when the color you call matches the one on their dot
  • Have trainees stand in a designated area of the room according to their dot color, and have them move around when their dot color changes
  • Ask for volunteers and create stressful and relaxing situations to see if their stress dots change color; situations such as counting backward from 1,043 in intervals of  7, singing Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance or doing the Quick Calm deep-breathing exercise (on the back of the Dot Calm card)
  • Distribute the cards so that participants can monitor their stress and relaxation levels throughout your presentation
  • Explain how stress works and why it causes the stress dot colors to change; discuss how awareness of stress helps to limit its unwanted impact (see left column)
  • Use the videos on the Calmast page to teach stress reduction and relaxation techniques

Get Stress Dots And Cards

See our Resources section to order Dot Calm stress trackers and cards for workshops, conferences, giveaways and classrooms. Various quantities are available.

Customize Your Dot Calm Cards

Watch the Customize Your Cards video (right) to see why Dot Calm cards with your contact info, logo and messages make unique business cards, promotions and giveaways. Then, contact us for custom card directions and pricing.

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