Relax and Repeat
When stressed to the max, sometimes it feels like you’re stuffed in a box with the sides closing in. While traditional tried and true ways to quell significant stress remain at the top of every mental and physical healthcare professional’s go-to list – and rightly so – several experts are guiding patients to think outside the proverbial box.
Here are several novel ways people are de-stressing and soothing worries within. While medgoo.com does not endorse any of these methods*, the ideas may be worth a google or two. We’re just saying…
A Work of Art ~ MMFA-MFdC Museum Prescriptions
On November 1, 2018, physician members of Médecins francophones du Canada (MFdC) began prescribing free visits to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA).(1) It’s believed that these novel prescriptions, representing the first such initiative of its kind, can augment conventional treatment by enabling patients to enjoy the health benefits of viewing art in a museum.
“The MMFA-MFdC Museum Prescriptions program is a new treatment tool that makes museum visits accessible to thousands of patients suffering from a variety of physical and mental health problems,” states MMFA on its website. “By offering free admission to a safe, welcoming place, a relaxing, revitalizing experience, a moment of respite, and an opportunity to strengthen ties with loved ones, MMFA-MFdC Museum Prescriptions contribute to the patient’s well-being and recovery.”(1)
The MMFA, a self-proclaimed pioneer and major player in the field of wellness through the arts, bills itself as a “research laboratory for measuring the impact of art on health, with 10 clinical studies currently underway.” These research projects, created in 2017 and supervised by the MMFA Art and Health Committee, include experts in health, art therapy, research, the arts, and philanthropy.(1)
Back in the 90s, Carrie Bradshaw may have achieved inner peace with pink Cosmopolitans. That was then; this is now. Today, Americans are opting for a more sober approach to inner peace. Apptopia, provider of mobile app data and insights, says that in 2018 U.S. consumers spent $32 million on mindfulness apps, such as Calm, Headspace, and 10% Happier. (2)
Click and Breathe ~ Headspace Health Meditation App Seeks FDA Approval
Specific to Headspace, creator of a mindfulness and meditation app, the company created a subsidiary called Headspace Health. The offshoot is mindfully hoping to release the world’s first prescription meditation app in 2020.(3) The plan is to pioneer new ways to incorporate the Headspace meditation experience into digital medicine, introducing clinically-validated and FDA-cleared meditation programs designed to treat a broad range of chronic diseases and improve health and happiness around the world.(3)
Since 2015, Headspace has conducted evidence-based research studies on the positive health implications of its meditation platform on clinical conditions, such as asthma and cancer patient quality of life, as well as exploration into areas such as sleep and pain management.
Who knew that peace, happiness, and bliss were as close as your phone.
Spinning a Yarn ~ Knit for Peace
An Rx for knitting is reported to decrease blood pressure, alleviate depression, and slow the onset of dementia.(4) The craft’s repetitive movement, researchers suggest, induces a meditative-like calm that distracts knitters from their symptoms.(5)
Knit for Peace (5), an international knitting collective that distributes knitted items to needy people around the world, worked with about 15,000 volunteers to study the health benefits associated with knitting. The reviews conclude that knitting – as a remedial measure – helps reduce heart rate by an average of 11 beats per minute, induces an enhanced state of calm, and boosts the serotonin level, which in turn is calming and mood enhancing. (4)
Going a step further, researchers propose that knitting may share similar benefits with yoga, providing a distraction from chronic pain, enhancing wellbeing, lowering blood pressure, helping to increase intellect, and perhaps helping to fight stress, anxiety, and depression.(4)
A survey published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy, which involved studying more than 3,500 knitters worldwide, concurs – reporting that knitting offers psychological and social benefits that contribute to wellbeing and quality of life.(5)
Dare we say it? Knitting may bring physical and mental health benefits as well as warm, comfy mittens.
Nature Calls ~ Exploring the Great Outdoors
Scottish physicians on the Shetland Islands prescribe nature as a treatment to reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, decrease chronic pain, and increase happiness.(6) The project, representing a partnership between NHS Shetland and RSPB Scotland, is the first of its kind in the UK and was recently extended after a successful pilot program.
To augment traditional medical care, patients receive calendars and activity lists that lead to bird watching excursions and hill walking along Shetland’s upland moors – all inexpensive and simple adventures.(7)
Here in the U.S., ParkRx – aka Park Prescriptions – is gaining momentum. The organization embraces a diverse and ever-evolving national community, including collaboration between park and public land agencies, healthcare providers, social service providers, and community partners.(8)
The ParkRx mission is to encourage healthcare providers to prescribe patient visits to parks and other natural sites – in real-time and in the clinical practice setting. The goal, ParkRx says on it website, is to “help patients improve their health and wellness by convening with nature.”(8)
Park Prescriptions has to date participated in more than 400 studies, which demonstrate numerous physical, social, and mental health benefits linked to simply enjoying nature.(9) These findings have helped ParkRx initiate two national Park Prescription programs as well as around 85 Park Prescription programs across the county.(10)
Playing to Win ~ A Gaming App Brings Happiness
The creators of Personal Zen (11) claim that playing their free, science-based, iOS gaming app for 25 minutes per day can reduce anxiety in stressed individuals. In fact, the statement is supported by research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.(12)
The app, purportedly based on 20 years of clinical and neuroscience research, includes a series of games that reduce anxiety levels by training the brain to have a more positive focus. The philosophy here is that a brain can be “exercised” just like a muscle – eventually achieving buffed mental health. (11)
It’s up to the individual if Personal Zen works or not – since the app’s star-rating lands smack in the middle, with 2.5 stars out of 5. (13)
* Views, opinions, and assumptions expressed are those of the product or concept creators/manufacturers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of medgoo.com.
RESOURCES
1) MMFA-MFdC Museum Prescriptions: Museum Visits Prescribed by Doctors
2) Calm and Top Self-Care Apps Grow Revenue 40% YOY
3) Headspace Announces “Headspace Health,” Its New Digital Medicine Subsidiary.
4) Knitting should be prescribed on NHS to lower blood pressure, reduce depression and slow dementia
5) Knitting is making a comeback, with new research showing it may help with stress and chronic pain
6) Nature to be prescribed to help health and wellbeing
7) Scottish GPs to begin prescribing rambling and bird watching
8) ParkRx.org
11) Personal Zen
12) Reducing Anxiety With a Smartphone App
