OTA VÄLILLÄ RENNOSTI - Firstbeat Technologies

School of Health Care
and Sports
Abstract of Thesis
Degree Programme in
Physiotherapy
Author
Sanna-Mari Poikela
Riina Rissanen
Year 2011
Commissioned by
Subject of thesis
Number of pages
Itella Oyj
OTA VÄLILLÄ RENNOSTI- RELAX SOMETIMES
63 + 11
The aim of our thesis was to find out what kind of meaning does a relaxation
moment during the workday have to stress and recovery. The second aim
was to find out how the employees of Itella Oyj felt about these relaxation
moments during the workdays.
Our thesis is quantitative and qualitative. We used the Firstbeat-meter which
was developed by the Firstbeat technologies Oy. It is based on the precise
heart rate variability and it tells us the level of strain and recovery. To survey
the employees feelings about the relaxation sessions we used an enquiry
form.
In our research we had eight informants from among the Itella Oyj
employees. Their job description was to take care of customer service by
phone. The assignment we gave to the informants was to do relaxation
exercise once a day every workday for four weeks. Prior, halfway and at the
end of the research period the employees had to make a two days long
Firstbeat-measurement. Also they had to fill in a relaxation enquiry form
every time they did their relaxation exercise.
The revealed that the employees stress and recovery reactions did not vary a
lot. The measurements show that the relaxation periods had a positive effect
on stress reactions, On the other hand, the measurements show that the
relaxation periods had a negative effect to recovery reactions. According to
the relaxation enquiry forms the employees felt that these relaxation
moments were pleasant and helped them to recover in the middle of the
workday.
Key word
employee.
stress, recovery, relaxation, wellness analysis (Firstbeat-meter),