For many people, stress is a debilitating part of life, its negative impacts contributing to health problems as varied as headaches and fatigue to more serious ailments like heart disease and obesity. And since stress is everywhere, it’s difficult to address for many.
With the WellBe digital stress therapy bracelet on the wrist, stress need not be this, well, stressful. WellBe helps using a combination of heart rate monitor and mobile app to determine a wearer’s stress levels over time based on three factors: time, location, and people. By constantly gathering this data, WellBe offers personalized playlists of exercises and classes guided by WellBe mentors to help control stress levels, displaying how each activity affects stress levels in the long-term. The app also prompts wearers to take a break whenever it senses a particularly stressful situation, making it great reminder throughout the day. Backers can grab their own WellBe Bracelet in natural, dark brown or black cork for $119, $50 off the eventual retail price. It’s slated to ship in September 2016 should its Kickstarter campaign raise $25,000 by July 16th, 2016.
WellBe packs always-on stress relief in a simple, elegant package with a fair amount of functionality, all of which require smartphone interactivity to fully take advantage of. The Olive wristband doesn’t, focusing on reducing stress through a combination of haptic and LED feedback instead. This lets wearers focus on the device itself rather than a screen for comfort, a more positive approach in the long run. More significantly, Apple is building breathing exercises into the next version of its watchOS, which may cause more than a bit of stress for WellBe.