More people than ever before are being diagnosed with mental illnesses. Some of this is no doubt due to better awareness of this issue, but it would be strange if the tension caused by modern life doesn’t play a part in this.

Traffic, constant information overload, rapidly changing social norms, financial insecurity, arguing with people on Twitter, Justin Bieber. Just try to name one aspect of modern living that doesn’t seem designed to raise your blood pressure.

Spire Stone is Beginner-Friendly

Various techniques to deal with stress have been developed and are probably effective, but what do you do if you don’t even know where to start?

The Spire Stone monitors your breathing to detect high levels of anxiety and discreetly informs you when you might be losing control. It can then guide you through proven breathing exercises until you regain your calm. As a bonus, it also doubles as an activity tracker – poor fitness and stress go hand in hand, after all.

Incredibly easy to use, it simply clips to a belt, bra, or other garments, is water-resistant, and charges wirelessly.

Before we give you our take on this device, here’s Spire’s advert video:

Not for Everyone

Unfortunately, although the patented breath tracking technology is a really cool idea, it doesn’t seem to work well for everyone.

In particular, the wearer’s posture and where the device is attached affects its accuracy, which may lead to false alarms or a tense state not being detected. The app could really be improved, and it’s not as good at measuring activity as a dedicated fitness tracker.

So, the upshot is: don’t expect miracles, and don’t expect advertising to be 100% true 100% of the time. This is still a pretty remarkable device, though, and, at this price, makes a perfect gift for someone you care about.