How I Built Lume: A Wellness App to Detect Stress Before You Feel It

Introduction

Building a tech product often starts with a personal problem. For me, it was stress. I noticed a pattern in my life: during anxious phases, my resting heart rate (RHR) would rise. Adopting healthier habits—better sleep, exercise, mindfulness—helped lower it over time. That realization inspired me to create Lume, an app designed to detect rising stress levels before you’re even aware of them and guide you back to balance.

What is Lume?

Lume is a wellness app that:

• Tracks stress levels using subtle changes in biometrics (e.g., heart rate).
• Provides actionable recommendations to help users maintain balance.
• Empowers users with detailed insights into their stress patterns over time.

But building Lume wasn’t just about having an idea; it was about solving complex challenges in design, data integration, and user engagement.

Why I Built Lume

I realized that by the time I felt stressed, I was already in a downward spiral. I wanted a tool that could:

• Alert me when stress was rising.
• Help me course-correct with personalized recommendations.
• Track my journey so I could understand what worked best for me.

This idea shaped Lume’s core features: predictive stress detection, actionable tips, and insightful analytics.

Technical Challenges

1. Handling Multiple Data Sources
   One of the first challenges was integrating data from multiple health devices and ensuring accuracy. Overlapping sleep readings, for instance, inflated values. I tackled this by creating logic to detect duplicates and reconcile readings.

2. Detecting Stress Effectively
   Stress detection is more than just tracking numbers—it’s about understanding patterns. Lume focuses on key metrics like changes in heart rate to identify signs of stress early. This keeps the process simple and actionable for users.

3. Balancing Simplicity and Detail
   Users wanted actionable insights, not overwhelming graphs. I designed Lume to surface only the most relevant metrics and provide easy-to-follow recommendations.

Lessons Learned

1. Start with an MVP
   I initially wanted to include everything—mood tracking, reminders, and more. But focusing on just four daily pillars—sleep, exercise, mindfulness, and socialization—kept the app lightweight and user-friendly.

2. User Feedback is Gold
   Early testers helped refine Lume. For example, users preferred subtle nudges over frequent notifications, leading to better retention.

3. Build for Scalability
   Even as a solo developer, I designed Lume with future growth in mind; Building a modular codebase for easier feature additions and running through several self reviews to make sure I was adding the cleanest possible code.

What’s Next for Lume?

I recently launched Lume on Product Hunt, and the response was incredible. Moving forward, I plan to:

• Expand to international markets with localized content.
• Introduce gamified features to encourage daily use.
• Partner with mental health organizations to make Lume more accessible.

Final Thoughts

Lume started as a solution to my own struggles with stress, but it’s evolved into something bigger. If you’re interested in wellness or building tech for good, I’d love to hear your thoughts or answer your questions.

You can check out Lume here. Feel free to share feedback or just say hi!

Your Turn

Have you built or are you building an app focused on wellness or health? What challenges did you face, and how did you solve them? Let’s share and learn together in the comments!