A quiet revolution is unfolding in corporate wellness: employees are increasingly using wearable devices like Apple Watches to monitor heart rate variability (H. R. V.) not just for fitness, but to optimize job performance. Dr. Ravi Solanki, an AI executive in San Francisco, exemplifies this shift.

He tracks his H. R. V. to manage stress and enhance focus, a practice he shares with his team, where comparing biometric data has become a unifying, performance-driven ritual.

This trend is fueling a lucrative cottage industry of coaches and software platforms. Companies like Optimal HRV report subscriptions skyrocketing more than tenfold since 2020, reaching over 4,000 users, while performance psychology firms like Thrive serve tens of thousands of employees across finance, law, and tech, charging retainers from $15,000 to six figures.