Acknowledging the quiet signs that require external help.

He knew he was struggling, but talking about it felt difficult, almost embarrassing. The application provided a different language: the Silent Signal. It wasn't a demand for a therapist; it was a recognition that a chronic pattern (Stress + No Control for ten days) requires visibility. The system spoke for him when his voice felt too weak.

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl
Do you monitor your well being already?

The three variables that define a day s success.

Success used to be measured by hours worked or tasks completed. Now, he started measuring the inputs that truly mattered: Mood, Energy, and Control. These three small metrics were the vital signs of his professional engine. Tracking them daily wasn't monitoring; it was owning the fuel that ran his career.

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl
Talent you are!

Changing the path the moment the warning light flashes.

He sat down, intending to dive into a high-pressure project. The 20-second check-in showed his energy was depleted, his mood low. The initial plan was scrapped. Instead of forcing high-output work, he dedicated the first hour to light, restorative tasks. The data allowed him to pivot quickly, not from failure, but from predicted burnout.
Please start your free onboarding and make this world a btter place with this "thermometer".

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl

Intervening when the rhythm is about to break.

He saw the Erratic Pulse score rise, a volatile swing between extreme happiness and sudden exhaustion. It wasn't yet a crisis, but it was a warning of instability. The data provided the one thing prevention requires: time. He didn't wait for the flatline; he changed the rhythm today, protecting his health by acting on the forecast.
Monitor your daily heartbeat every day!

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl

The thirty seconds that protect the twenty-four hours.

He was already late for the meeting, adrenaline pulsing, temptation strong to skip the check-in. It's just twenty seconds, the voice argued. But he knew those twenty seconds were the only non-negotiable discipline he had all day, the fence protecting his private wellbeing from the public demands. He opened the app, registered the true Mood and Energy, and then calmly walked into the chaos. The check-in wasn't a delay; it was armor.
Monday morning daily standup already done?

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl

Creating a consistent measurement in a sea of change.

His workload, his location, and his team were constantly changing. Everything was in flux. But at the same time every day, he logged his three metrics. This simple ritual created an Anchor Point a single, consistent moment of self-assessment amidst professional turbulence. It wasn't the data that mattered most; it was the habit of stopping and feeling that stabilized his week.

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl
The weekend: recharge!

Taking stock of the emotional resources you have left.

She used the check-in as a daily inventory. How much Energy was left in the tank? How much Control did she lose yesterday? She wasn't logging a diary of events, but a precise inventory of her resources. This simple accounting allowed her to budget her mental power for the rest of the day, ensuring she didn't recklessly spend tomorrow's supply.

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Use your thermometer for sickness leave prevention: www.pulseboard.nl

The choice to act before the noise starts.

He had seen a week of slowly dropping Energy levels. No one else noticed. No manager called, no colleague commented. The signal was entirely his own. That evening, he cancelled an unnecessary social commitment and went to bed early. The check-in hadn't forced a drastic change, but it enabled a Silent Intervention a small, private course correction that averted a public crash.
Challenge for all readers:

Integrate Pulseboard into your Slack channel today. Start onboarding and check it out. What do you think?

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Claiming the data that defines your future health.

He used to view health checks as something HR did to him. Now, his daily check-in was data he created for himself. This sense of ownership was a powerful shift. The PulseBoard wasn't monitoring his compliance; it was helping him own the most critical dataset of his life, the predictive map of his own wellbeing.

Don't forget to follow through on your good intentions

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

The transformation of a prompt into a necessity.

In the first week, the app notification felt like a chore. By the third week, the absence of the check-in felt wrong. The simple act of logging Mood, Energy, and Control had transformed from an external prompt into an internal necessity. The habit loop was closed: the awareness itself became the reward.
So my question for you: "What is your habit?"

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Start your sickness leave prevention today: www.pulseboard.nl

So first real workday this week in the new year.

Remember my heartbeats!

Preparing for the storm signaled by yesterday s metrics.

He checked his previous day's metrics: low Energy and high Stressed mood. Today, he consciously scheduled an easy win and blocked his lunch hour. The check-in was less about documenting the past and more about forecasting the day's potential risks. He treated the data like a weather report for his soul, preparing for a low-pressure day.

The simplification of complex exhaustion.

Exhaustion used to be a complicated, multi-faceted complaint. Now, it boiled down to three simple, measurable questions: What is my Mood? What is my Energy? Do I have Control? These three variables cut through the narrative noise, simplifying overwhelming complexity into actionable inputs he could respond to immediately.

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Start your sickness leave prevention today: www.pulseboard.nl

This morning, I woke up to a world that had turned completely white. There is something about that first look out the window, the silence of the snow, the crispness of the air, that makes me smile instantly. My day started with an undeniable "good mood" before I even had my first cup of coffee.

It got me thinking: What are the invisible forces that determine how we perform?

After 35 years in business, I ve realized that our performance isn't just a result of our skills or our to-do list. It is a delicate chemistry influenced by three things we often take for granted:

1. The Environment (The "Snow" Factor) The world outside influences the world inside. When our environment feels calm or inspiring, our cognitive load drops. We aren't fighting the "noise" of a grey, busy world, which leaves more room for creativity and patience.

Stopping the withdrawal when the balance runs low.

He used to treat his energy as infinite. Now, he checked the level and saw it as a bank balance. Seeing the meter drop to 40% in the afternoon was the equivalent of an overdraft warning. He immediately stopped the high-demand tasks, canceling a meeting to prevent the balance from hitting zero. The check-in wasn't just monitoring; it was enforcing fiscal responsibility over his most valuable resource.
Question for you: "How do you balance your Energy Level?"

A heartbeat thought by Christian van Gils

Start your sickness leave prevention today!

I ve been watching the discussions here over the holidays, and it s inspiring to see so much passion. But it also got me thinking. After 35 years in the entrepreneurial world, I ve realised that my biggest mistakes didn't happen because I wasn't working hard enough they happened because I was running on an empty battery.

As founders, we are obsessed with "optimisation." We optimize our code, our funnels, and our growth. But this week, I m trying something different: I m optimising for rest.

I ve spent the last few days intentionally stepping away from the screen. Not to plan the next pivot or to "reflect on KPIs," but to actually let my mind go quiet. I m finding that the better I use this week to truly recharge my own energy, the more excited I feel about 2026.

It s a strange feeling to not be "productive" for a few days, but I m learning that my energy levels are the most important asset I have. If that battery isn't green, nothing else I build will be sustainable.

Hello everyone, I'm Christian van Gils, Co-founder of PulseBoard.

For my entire career, I've been a dedicated entrepreneur. I successfully built and ran a media agency for 12.5 years, followed by a software company that I recently and successfully exited after 22 years.

Now, I'm redirecting all of that experience, knowledge, and entrepreneurial drive toward a single mission: making 2026 a healthier year by focusing on people.

The Mission: Beyond Software

Our Reasoning (Why this matters to us): My team and I have been building well-being systems for months, and our biggest realization is that the industry is still fighting the wrong battle.
Most tools are great at tracking absenteeism (sick leave), but they completely miss Presenteeism the invisible stress and low productivity that precedes the actual 'crash.'
We believe this is the biggest drain on company financials and morale. We decided to focus entirely on predictive data to solve this failure. Our insight is that true prediction requires absolute employee trust.
Question for the Community: We're launching PulseBoard on Wednesday to solve this with a 3-question anonymous check-in.
If you were building a predictive tool today, what is the single hardest ethical tradeoff you'd have to make between gathering enough data and guaranteeing 100% employee privacy?

Hey Product Hunt community! I'm Christian van Gils, and I'm the maker behind PulseBoard, a tool focused on preventing long-term sick leave by solving the 'Presenteeism' problem.
My team and I have spent the last months tackling the single biggest barrier in this space: TRUST.
We are launching on Wednesday 18-12-2025, and I am here now to answer any questions you have today, Sunday, about our journey.
Ask me anything about:
1. The technical challenge of predicting burnout with only 3 check-in questions.
2. Our decision to guarantee 100% data anonymity to all managers.

3

I ve noticed that many health products have a real chance of getting featured on Product Hunt.

And it makes sense. Health is the most valuable thing we have, so if a product is innovative and genuinely helpful, it should be accessible to as many people as possible.