A user’s step count hasn’t changed. They’re still hitting 8,000 steps a day. But their sleep timing has drifted by two hours, they’ve stopped being active at consistent times, and they’re sitting for longer uninterrupted stretches. None of these changes are dramatic enough to flag on their own. Together, they form a pattern that research consistently links to declining mental wellbeing.
The Mental Wellbeing Score detects these behavioral shifts. It doesn’t measure mood. It doesn’t ask users how they feel. Instead, it tracks six behavioral patterns — activity levels, routine consistency, sedentary behavior, and sleep timing — that peer-reviewed research has consistently linked to mental health outcomes. When these patterns shift — routines become irregular, sleep timing drifts, daily structure erodes — it often precedes or accompanies changes in mental wellbeing.
This matters because behavioral patterns are observable, objective, and modifiable. A product can surface them without ever asking “how are you feeling?” — which avoids survey fatigue, recall bias, and the discomfort some users feel when prompted about their mental state. All six factors work from phone data alone. No wearable required. No self-report required.
| State | What It Means |
|---|---|
| High (80–100) | Consistent routines, regular activity, and stable sleep timing |
| Medium (60–79) | Mostly consistent, but some behavioral patterns are drifting |
| Low (40–59) | Notable disruptions to routine — regularity, activity, or sleep timing is off |
| Minimal (0–39) | Significant behavioral disruption — multiple patterns have deteriorated |
Science: Every factor in the Mental Wellbeing Score is grounded in peer-reviewed research. For the evidence behind each one, see The Science Behind the Mental Wellbeing Score.
Mental Wellbeing Score Factors
The Mental Wellbeing Score is built from six factors. Each returns a value (what was measured), a sub-score (0 to 100), a state (minimal, low, medium, high), and a goal (a static, evidence-based target). All six work from phone data alone.
Steps
Total daily steps. Physical activity is one of the most consistently supported interventions for mental health — even modest amounts of walking reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. But for mental wellbeing, consistency matters as much as volume. A person who walks 5,000 steps every day maintains a more protective behavioral pattern than someone who alternates between 12,000 steps and zero.
Goal: 10,000 steps
Active Hours
Number of hours in the day with recorded movement. For mental wellbeing, this captures whether a user is engaged and moving throughout the day or withdrawing into prolonged inactivity. A gradual decline in active hours — fewer hours with any movement at all — is one of the behavioral markers research associates with depressive episodes. It doesn’t need to be exercise; light movement, standing, or walking all count.
Goal: 12 hours
Extended Inactivity
Total time in prolonged sedentary periods without movement breaks. Prolonged sitting is independently associated with higher rates of depression and anxiety — even in people who exercise regularly. The mechanism isn’t purely physical; extended inactivity often correlates with social withdrawal, screen overuse, and reduced environmental stimulation. Breaking up sedentary time with even brief movement has measurable effects on mood and cognitive function.
Goal: 4 hours (240 minutes) or less
Activity Regularity
Consistency of physical activity patterns across days. This factor is unique to the Mental Wellbeing Score. It measures not how much someone moves, but how predictably. When daily activity patterns become erratic — varying widely from day to day with no consistent rhythm — it’s a behavioral signal that correlates with reduced mental wellness. Routine and structure are protective factors for mental health, and activity regularity captures whether that structure is present.
Goal: 100 (consistency index)
Sleep Regularity
Consistency of bed and wake times across days. Irregular sleep timing disrupts circadian rhythm, which directly affects mood regulation, stress tolerance, and cognitive function. Research shows that sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mental health outcomes than sleep duration in many populations. A user sleeping 7 hours at the same time every night is behaviorally healthier than one sleeping 8 hours on an erratic schedule. This factor also appears in the Sleep Score but carries particular weight here because of its strong mental health correlation.
Goal: 100 (consistency index)
Circadian Alignment
How well sleep timing matches the body’s internal clock. Chronic circadian misalignment — sleeping significantly out of phase with the natural light-dark cycle — is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and mood instability. Shift workers, people with social jetlag (large weekend-weekday timing differences), and those with late-shifted schedules are at higher risk. Morning light exposure is the strongest natural intervention for realigning the circadian clock.
Goal: within 30 minutes of optimal timing
How Factors Interact
The Mental Wellbeing Score is fundamentally about routine. The factors don’t operate independently — they form a picture of how structured and consistent a user’s daily life is.
The regularity signal. Activity regularity and sleep regularity are the core of this score. When both are stable, it indicates that the user is maintaining daily structure — predictable movement patterns and consistent sleep timing. When both deteriorate simultaneously, it’s a stronger signal than either alone. Products should pay particular attention to concurrent drops in both regularity factors.
Activity and inactivity as behavioral markers. Steps and active hours measure engagement — is the user moving and active? Extended inactivity measures withdrawal — are they sitting for long, unbroken stretches? A pattern of declining steps, fewer active hours, and increasing inactivity is the behavioral profile most strongly associated with depressive episodes in research. These changes often happen gradually, which is why passive detection matters — the user may not notice the shift themselves.
Circadian alignment as a multiplier. When sleep timing drifts, it tends to pull other factors with it. Circadian misalignment disrupts mood regulation and energy levels, which reduces daytime activity, which increases inactivity, which further disrupts sleep timing. The cycle compounds. Conversely, stabilizing sleep timing (the simplest intervention) often cascades into improvements across other factors.
Factor-to-Habit Guide
Mental wellbeing habits should be framed gently — as supportive suggestions, not performance targets. The goal is consistency, not intensity.
| Factor | When Low, Suggest… |
|---|---|
| Steps | ”A short daily walk — even 15 minutes — supports mood more than you’d expect” |
| Active Hours | ”Try to move a little bit each hour — standing, stretching, a short walk” |
| Extended Inactivity | ”Break up long sitting stretches with 2-3 minutes of movement” |
| Activity Regularity | ”Try to be active at roughly the same times each day — routine is protective” |
| Sleep Regularity | ”Keep your wake time consistent — even on weekends” |
| Circadian Alignment | ”Get natural light within 30 minutes of waking — it anchors your body clock” |
Product tip: Mental wellbeing is sensitive territory. Keep recommendations positive and free of judgment. When scores are persistently low, consider surfacing supportive resources — breathing exercises, mindfulness content, or gentle prompts toward professional guidance — rather than pushing harder on behavioral targets. The most responsible approach is to inform and support, never to alarm.
Phone vs Wearable
Mental Wellbeing is one of two scores (alongside Activity) where all factors work from phone data alone — 100% coverage without any wearable hardware. Wearable data can improve measurement precision (more accurate sleep timing detection, better activity classification), but it adds no additional factors. The score is equally meaningful with or without a wearable.
This makes Mental Wellbeing the broadest-reach mental health signal available. Every user in your app — regardless of device — can receive a passive behavioral assessment without logging anything or answering any questions.
Limitations
The Mental Wellbeing Score is a behavioral wellness signal, not a clinical tool. It captures patterns that research associates with mental health risk, but it does not and cannot:
- Diagnose conditions — it does not detect depression, anxiety, or any clinical condition
- Capture psychological context — factors like social stress, grief, trauma, or life events are invisible to behavioral data
- Replace professional assessment — it’s designed to complement, never substitute, how a user feels and any professional care they receive
Products should present the score as a supportive, informative signal. When persistent low scores are detected, the most responsible product behavior is to gently surface resources — not to label or diagnose the user.
Further Reading
- The Science Behind the Mental Wellbeing Score — peer-reviewed evidence for each contributing factor
- What are Health Scores and Score Factors — foundational guide to the scoring model
- Mental Wellbeing Score — Docs — API reference, schemas, permissions, and integration details
- Sleep Score Explained — sleep quality measure that shares regularity and alignment factors
- Activity Score Explained — daily activity measure that shares movement factors