But what about mental health? You wouldn’t really think this particular life challenge would mesh very well with technology. Well, there are, in fact, devices out there that can help you with anxiety, stress, and depression.
Here are seven gadgets that can help to improve your mental health.
1. Flow Headset
The Flow Neuroscience headset is designed to help those dealing with depression. This device uses a technique called transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), which uses a low direct current delivered by electrodes within the brain. This kind of technique was even used in ancient times when Greek and Roman doctors realized that electric fish could relieve pain.
While this technique has been used for many years in clinics, the Flow headset allows you to access it at home, whenever you want. Each session using the Flow headset lasts 30 minutes, and you need to use it five times per week initially and then just one or two times a week. Essentially, when used consistently, this technique is supposed to have a dramatic effect on depression levels and depressive behavior.
Flow Neuroscience also offers an app that they recommend you use along with your headset to access a recovery plan curated by licensed psychologists. Pretty cool!
2. Feel Wristband
The Feel Wristband is made to monitor and determine your emotions at any given time. This allows the band to create mood patterns and trends based on your emotions, which you can check out using their app.
The Feel app will then provide advice and suggestions for what you can do to help tackle negative emotions. It will also provide you with certain tools you can use to feel better. It also gives you access to online tools that help you learn about managing your life more effectively.
What’s more, you can also speak to a mental health expert while on the Feel plan for 15 minutes every week, so you get a little bit of one-on-one support on top of everything else.
3. Dodow
The Dodow device is superficially targeted toward those who find it hard to sleep, a common side effect of many mental conditions. Dodow’s developers claim that this little gadget will help you get to sleep in just eight minutes. But how can it do this?
Dodow is fit with a breath-synchronizing light, which encourages deep, calming breaths. Additionally, the device is incredibly simple to use. You only need to quickly tap the surface of the device to get it started. Alternatively, if you want to use Dodow’s 20-minute cycle instead of the eight-minute cycle, just tap the device’s surface twice. It’s as easy as that!
4. Muse Headband
The Muse headband can help you make some big steps on your mental health journey by incorporating meditation into your daily routine.
The Muse headband works by monitoring your brain activity during meditation sessions, which you can view using the Muse app. The headband itself uses a multi-sensor to provide real-time feedback on how your mind works as you meditate.
It works a little like an attention trainer, ensuring you keep your mind focused on the meditation itself, not exterior problems or thoughts. After your meditation session, the band will use the data collected on your brain activity to provide advice on how to control your breathing better and reach your calm space during sessions.
5. Oura Ring
You may have heard of this nifty little device before. The Oura Ring is designed to monitor a number of factors as you go through the day, mostly by tracking the state of the tiny capillaries in your fingers. It can track your daily activity levels, naps, resting periods, and total steps. These factors can all help you better understand your routine.
The ring also monitors a number of factors as you sleep, including heart rate, body temperature, REM sleep, light sleep, and total sleep time. This allows you to see just how well you’re sleeping every night, which can provide some answers about your current mental state.
You can also connect the ring to other fitness apps, such as Google Fit and Apple Health, making it easy for you to sync up and store your health data.
6. Feelzing Patch
The Feelzing Patch is made to increase both focus and energy levels. This patch consists of a circuit and gel base, which attaches to your head, just behind your ear (where important nervous connections are located). The patch then gives you a seven-minute stimulation, during which a patterned electric waveform is sent to the nerves of the autonomic nervous system in your brain.
This stimulation should make you feel more energetic and focused, two feelings that those suffering from common mental illnesses often struggle with. In fact, Feelzing claims that 84% of customers reported increased energy levels after using the patch. What’s more, 90% of customers reported an overall improved mental state after using the patch. Pretty impressive!
7. The Pip
The Pip is a tiny little device that can help you monitor and understand your emotions. This gadget contains sensors that monitor the state of the pores in your finger, which are claimed to be highly sensitive to changing stress levels.
When The Pip monitors these tiny pores, it determines your mental state and explains your emotions to you effectively using the Pip app. The idea is to make you more aware of your stress levels and emotional patterns to better manage them. It has also been called an “addendum” to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a popular therapeutic method for many mental illnesses.
It’s Exciting To Think What Technology Could Do For Mental Health In The Future
With many different gadgets now on the market for tackling mental illnesses, it’s amazing to think that such illnesses might become entirely curable one day with progressing technology.
Who knows, anxiety and depression might become a thing of the past at some point—and we hope that’s the case. We’re excited to see where this technology goes!
