A soothing game-like app is urging people to stay in bed all day and let go of their stressful lives.
#SelfCare takes users through a series of relaxation and meditative tasks, free of difficulty levels and the urgency to win like traditional games.
“#SelfCare is an antidote to a stressful world and a phone full of bad news, FOMO, and more stress,” said Brie Code, a former Assassin’s Creed developer, and Eve Thomas, a writer, who created the experience together under their TRU LUV company.
“For 3-5 minutes you can escape to a calm and soothing room, do some relaxing, meditative tasks, and return to your life refreshed and ready to face your stresses.”
The app, which is now available on iOS, sees users transported to a virtual bedroom, surrounded by calming objects like your favourite plant or the cat. As you progress through the experience, you can personalise your virtual sanctuary with new features from guest artists.
TRU LUV has worked with a number of researchers specialising in anxiety-reducing techniques to build the app.
“It’s the marriage of science and design that is the game changer,” said Dr Isabela Granic, director of the Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab, based at Radboud University in the Netherlands.
“Ultimately, it’s that science-design integration that will motivate people to take control of their own emotional resilience, building self-care practices that prevent the development of anxiety and depression while also promoting general well-being.”
#SelfCare is free to download from the App Store.
