New Features in Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment

Lifestyle Assessment Release 28th Oct 2018

Updated Lifestyle Assessment Definitions Page

We updated the definitions page of the Lifestyle Assessment report. It has a new visual look and we also made small improvements to the texts. The Definitions page is now found at the beginning of the report package. This makes it easier to find it and become familiar with the terminology before or during the feedback discussion. Take a look – and find the best way to utilize this page as part of your feedback sessions. See new example report

Improvement to Project Summary Report

The calculation for the stress segment of the Project Summary was improved. The measured stress balance was earlier based on the follow-up recommendations found in the Specialist report. We changed the calculation so that the measured stress balance is now based on the group members’ stress and recovery balance (points). The points-based calculation has already been in use for sleep and physical activity segments, so now all the results in the Project Summary are based on the points (stress and recovery balance, sleep and physical activity).

Automatic Reminder About Device Order

We will remind your client about ordering the measurement device. The reminder message is e-mailed to the client automatically if he/she has not ordered the device within 7 days of the order link being sent. As before, we will also remind the client about filling the journal and returning the device. Note: These messages only apply to Center clients!

Lifestyle Assessment Release 2nd Sept 2018

Lifestyle Assessment to Estimate Fitness Level: Kick off the fall – by taking a walk!

We have now launched the long-awaited Fitness Level feature into Lifestyle Assessment. This feature will provide a data-based estimate of the client’s maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) based on 30 minutes of walking at moderate pace.

Maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max, reflects the level of aerobic fitness (endurance) and is one of the most important measures of health. It describes the ability of the cardiorespiratory system and muscles to transport and utilize oxygen in physical effort. Good aerobic fitness has been scientifically shown to be associated with better health and performance and a lower risk of mortality. Good fitness also enhances our ability to recover and manage stress.

The Fitness Level feature will offer significant added value both to your clients and to you, the wellness professional! Your clients will get an accurate estimate of their aerobic fitness level and can see whether their fitness level is sufficient to support good health. In addition, being aware of what your fitness level is can be an effective motivator for becoming (or staying) physically active and improving your fitness.

For you as the professional, Fitness Level will allow you to provide more focused and personalized exercise guidance that is based on the client’s current fitness level. To avoid overtraining and ensure fitness development, it’s important that the exercise program is based on the client’s true, current fitness level.

30 minutes of walking is enough

The Fitness Level can be determined if the 3-day Lifestyle Assessment includes a 30-minute walk (at moderate pace, on flat terrain). The covered distance should be at least 2 km. Fitness Level estimation from walking is an easy and safe way to determine aerobic fitness that is applicable to most people. Contraindications that can prevent reliable estimation of the Fitness Level include conditions that limit the person’s ability to walk and Beta blocker medication. Fitness Level estimation is voluntary; in other words, the Lifestyle Assessment can be conducted without the 30-minute walk.

The feature is free, and you can learn more about it in our Fitness Level webinar held by Exercise Physiologist Tiina Hoffman on 4 September at 3 pm UK / 5 pm Finland / 10 am EST. A podcast will be available afterwards.

Register to the webinar

Automatic sleep detection to fix missing journal markings

Our new automatic sleep detection tool will estimate missing sleep periods for you! The program now notifies you if it detected a sleep period and you can add it to your client’s journal with a simple click of the mouse. The analysis step will be quicker because you don’t have to contact the client to ask them afterwards or estimate the sleep period yourself by looking at the heart rate. Other edit features for sleep periods will remain the same. Keep in mind that automatic sleep detection does not replace journal markings, and clients are still instructed to mark their sleep periods in the journal.

In addition:

Navigating between follow-up assessments is now a lot easier! We added a dropdown menu of earlier assessments to the client’s profile page. If your client has previous assessments, you can view them easily via this Menu.

Lifestyle Assessment Release 27th May 2018

Updated Physical Activity Index

With this improvement, it is now possible to accumulate more than 100 points with physical activity that is performed at high intensity or for a long time. In these situations, the points are shown as 100+/100. If more than 100 points are accumulated, this is considered in the Summary report’s physical activity average. This improves the evaluation of the overall load of physical activity and the additional need for recovery that it creates.

Information About Client Consent

If your client orders the device directly from a Firstbeat Center:

When ordering a measurement device, the client must first provide consent for saving and processing their personal information in Firstbeat systems (including measurement data and health-related data) in order for us to produce a Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment report. If the client does not provide their consent at this stage, it is not possible to order a measurement device.

If you order device(s) from the Center on behalf of your client or if you are using your own devices:

When signing into the end client interface, your client will first need to provide consent for saving and processing their personal information in Firstbeat systems (including measurement data and health-related data) in order for us to produce a Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment report. It is not possible for the client to proceed to the journal or Firstbeat to analyze the data without the client consent.

Note! If you have clients who do not have an e-mail address, and you are using a paper journal, you must accept the terms of Lifestyle Assessment on behalf of your client. To do this, you need to be able to show that your client has been informed of data handling according to your own your privacy policy documentation, and that the client has given their consent for use of their personal information accordingly. You can do this for example with a form that will be available in the Learning Center, under Materials for Download. When creating your privacy policy documentation, you can utilize the information available on our website: https://www.firstbeat.com/en/privacy/.

You will be able to accept the Lifestyle Assessment terms on behalf of your client by 10 June 2018. Until then, it will not be possible to create reports for clients who do not have an email address. This applies to assessments that are created after 27 May.  We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have questions about this topic, please get in touch with us partners@firstbeat.com.

Lifestyle Assessment Release 4th March 2018

Changed Invoicing Procedure for Clients Using the Firstbeat Centre Model

We are updating our invoicing procedure to simplify invoicing and ensure a more effective Lifestyle Assessment process. From now on, an assessment credit is used when the device is ordered from the Centre, instead of when the report is created. This will make it easier for you to stay up-to-date on your credit balance. To ensure that your customers are conducting the measurement as planned, we recommend that you remind them that a device order is binding. In case of a technically failed measurement, a re-measurement can be conducted at no cost within 40 days of the initial order via the Reorder button.

We will also simplify the billing of lost, broken and delayed devices: Instead of billing you the price of a device, we will simply deduct 2 assessment credits from your account. If you do not have enough credits, we will charge you the usual price per device.

Calculation of Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment results has been updated

Oxygen uptake and energy expenditure calculation has been improved. For example, energy expenditure values can now be estimated even more accurately than before. In addition, the information provided by accelerometer data is utilized more comprehensively, which allows improved differentiation of low-intensity physical activity, such as walking. The detection of stress and recovery has also been improved. Lifestyle Assessment is now able to differentiate stress and recovery more accurately in exceptional situations, for example if the resting heart rate is very high.

If you are doing a follow-up measurement, we recommend re-analyzing the first assessment to allow most accurate comparison of results.

In addition

• The Follow-Up Report was renewed! The report now allows more visual and detailed demonstration of change between assessments. The follow-up graphs for sleep, stress and recovery balance and physical activity will detail the changes, making it easier to motivate your clients to reach their goals. See example report
• Creating a Training Effect Report has been improved. It will be easier to add or edit workouts to be included in the training effect report. Go check it out!

Become more familiar with the updates by listening to our release podcast:

Lifestyle Assessment Release 8th Oct 2017

We added some new features to Lifestyle Assessment. You can now make corrections to sleep periods directly in the Measurements view, a wished-for function to make manual editing more efficient, if needed.

You can also see a summary of the client feedback questionnaire and other feedback your clients may have left for you.

Listen to our podcast for more details about the update:

In addition to the features mentioned in the podcast, we updated the layout of the Group reports and the style of end customer emails.

Why not get acquainted with the new features by signing into your own Lifestyle Assessment account right now?

Lifestyle Assessment Release 23rd July 2017

The Lifestyle Assessment has a new visual look. The end client’s email messages, journal and order page were already updated last fall – and now we updated the professional Lifestyle Assessment interface to match the same style.
From now on, when you sign into the Lifestyle Assessment, you will see the familiar Firstbeat colors of white, red and black. The content and functionalities will remain the same, but we made a few usability improvements:

• If you want to change the Professional user for an assessment (to be someone other than yourself), you can do it already when you create the assessment or adjust it later.
• If your client’s VO2max has been reliably measured with a fitness test, you can add the measured value under the Personal information segment.

Lifestyle Assessment Release 18th June 2017

Fresh look, improved content! Both Lifestyle Assessment report and Summary report have been updated. The already familiar Physical Activity score will be joined by separate scores for Stress and Recovery Balance and Restorative Effect of Sleep. The scores will make it easier to identify areas that are contributing positively to overall well-being and areas that still have room for improvement. See the updated Lifestyle Assessment example report.

We are continuing to add key features to the new Lifestyle Assessment. The upcoming release will bring the Bodyguard config tool under the Tools section, enabling you to check the battery status, measurement history, device time and time zone. In the Admin section, the account’s Admin user can customize the report’s cover page and add the company logo to the report and the automatized emails. If you had already branded your report in the old version, you don’t need to do anything; the existing branding is automatically converted to fit the new version.

In addition:

• The Specialist report was updated slightly to clarify the stress state classification segment.
• The accuracy of detecting stress and physical activity states has been improved. The calculation of physical activity points has been slightly tightened to better reflect the health effects of moderate and vigorous PA. In addition, the summary report now provides a cumulative overview of the health effects of physical activity over the whole assessment.

Please note! For those using the Lifestyle Assessment for follow-up projects or research, we strongly recommend analyzing all measurements with the updated analysis version for comparable results.

The new features, as well as the introduction of the new report are now available as a webinar recording. Watch the video below.

Lifestyle Assessment Release 19th Feb 2017

Lifestyle Assessment was updated on 19th Feb 2017. Group Reporting was added to the new platform and the Center concept is now more comprehensive.

We are constantly developing the new Lifestyle Assessment, and this release brings the much-awaited Group Reporting tool! The familiar feature has been improved and made more intuitive, is faster to use and allows you to compile different group reports from desired groups and individuals in your account. For the first time, the new Project Summary report can now be made from several groups or individuals.

Help us develop the new Lifestyle Assessment. Sign in with your credentials and give us feedback via the tab on the Home page. You can also let us know if you miss a specific feature from the old Lifestyle Assessment.

We also expanded the Center concept by adding a possibility to order the Lifestyle Assessment package (Bodyguard2 with instructions) on behalf of your client to a desired address. The order can be made for one individual or a group, and can be timed to be sent later. Get to know the order page, designed for our professional users, at order.firstbeat.com/professional. If you go in via the link, you will be asked to provide your Lifestyle Assessment credentials. Alternatively, you can access the order page directly from the Home page of the Lifestyle Assessment.

In addition:

• If you are using a calendar function for booking appointments, you can now integrate it as part of your client’s Lifestyle Assessment experience. Ask more from our support support@firstbeat.com and we can help you get started!
• Firstbeat Uploader plugin has been improved. We strongly recommend updating the plugin.
• Mozilla Web Extension for Bodyguard-2 plugin.

Watch a short recording about the main updates:

Lifestyle Assessment Release 30th Oct 2016

We have completed New Lifestyle Assessment with Group Assessment Features
Now available is the familiar feature with clearer and improved version where you can execute group analysis and create group reports. You can execute both individual and group reports which summarize key group results and conclusions into a clear report. The report is suitable especially for corporate and HR management as a summary of the executed project, and it can be utilized for various other groups as well. You can write follow-up recommendations for the group and examine the changes occurring in follow-up measurements. You will find this report under the New Lifestyle Assessment group feature’s group reports.

Goals page has been updated
Lifestyle Assessment goals pages’ classification has been improved and objectives have been updated.

Other user-friendly improvements
We made your user experience again a little better. We have improved specialist’s own analysis making and clarified the view on choosing the analysis of an existing customer.

Read more about the updates during the year from New features in Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment page.

Watch the video below introducing you to the new features added in the latest release.

Lifestyle Assessment Release 19th Sept 2016

Towards Improved End-Client Experience

We wanted to make your client’s Lifestyle Assessment experience even better:

• Sharper look & feel: A revamped layout for background information and measurement journal
• Updated e-mail messages: a completely new layout and improved content

In addition, our service providers who are using the Firstbeat Center service will benefit from:

• Updated order page: Check out the fresh new page for ordering the measurement devices
• The Center service is now available in 8 languages
• For more information about the Firstbeat Center, please contact info@firstbeat.com

See what the update looks like – Conduct a Lifestyle Assessment on yourself!

The best way to become familiar with these updates is to conduct a free Lifestyle Assessment on yourself by signing into the Lifestyle Assessment with your credentials.

Can’t remember how to do it? See the instructions here.

Lifestyle Assessment Release on 12th June 2016

Updated Login Page
When you log in at www.lifestyleassessment.com, you will be directed to the New Lifestyle Assessment as a default. Group measurement and Appointments Calendar features are at the moment only available in the older version but will be updated to the New Lifestyle Assessment later this year.

Usability Improvements

Clear path for creating assessments
Choose whether you want to create a new or a follow-up assessment on the Lifestyle Assessment front page.

Direct access to Firstbeat Learning Center from the software
Choose Tools > Learning Center on the Lifestyle Assessment front page.

Improvements for creating Training Effect reports
Choose and define the exercise session from which you want to create the Training Effect report.

Easier to make adjustments to the division of measurement days
Modify the measurement period by editing or moving the split lines.

Report Changes

Updated physical activity terms and re-defined intensity areas
The physical activity terms in Lifestyle Assessment reports have been clarified and the intensity areas have been re-defined, based on international physical activity recommendations. Physical activity is now categorized into light, moderate and vigorous physical activity. Lifestyle Assessment identifies an activity as physical activity when the person’s oxygen uptake and energy expenditure are clearly elevated from the resting level (over 2 MET). The limit for light physical activity is <40% of the person’s maximal capacity (VO2max), moderate physical activity is 40-60% and vigorous physical activity >60% of maximal capacity. The physical activity index still accumulates mainly from moderate and vigorous physical activity, in accordance with general recommendations.

Steps visible in the Lifestyle Assessment report
Steps have been added to the daily Lifestyle Assessment report.

Google Chrome compatibility
A plugin for Google Chrome browser is now available and after the release, you can again operate the Lifestyle Assessment with Google Chrome.

Watch an Introduction Video of New Features in Lifestyle Assessment: