Power Nap for students!

PowerNap

This highschool teacher created a PowerNap kit for overworked students. Its interesting to take a look into...see how music and listening to lectures in audio helps reduce stress.

Motorola had an anti stress booth at a 3GSM. Might be interesting to design spots/booths in the city which offer free massages, pedicures, manicures or just a place to lounge and relax on the street to literally address the problem of stress head on.

I really like the campaigns that Amy uploaded! They look really smart. I was thinking we could include these anti stress squeezey things in the campaign. They could hypothetically be handed out or be available around the city in dispensers around high traffic/stress areas. They're good for migraines too!

Graphic tool

Maybe we can use the heart rate as a graphic that we can place in areas to show how stressful this area tends to be... maybe some type of monitor, and then we could add the text like remember to breath. We can also use the warning colours to symbolize the danger zones from blue to red.

Neet idea to collect our own data!

What if we all bought a little heart rate monitor that we can wear for a couple days. we can carry a booklet and write down our heart rate every 15 minutes and describe our circumstances. just in our daily activities. Or we can create a root that brings us around certain areas while traveling and set a destination time to add the pressure and mark down our heart rate every 1-2minutes. we can do this maybe 2 or 3 days. Then we can create something using our findings. We could maybe so this in a certain area that we want to map.

http://www.anxietyandstress.com/stress.html

Oh man! look at this site, the number one way to manage stress it to remember to breath.
I really like this description:

Take a deep breath. Now exhale slowly. You're probably not aware of it, but your heart has just slowed down a bit. Not to worry; it will speed up again when you inhale. This regular-irregular beat is a sign of a healthy interaction between heart and head. Each time you exhale, your brain sends a signal down the vagus nerve to slow the cardiac muscle. With each inhale, the signal gets weaker and your heart revs up. Inhale, beat faster. Exhale, beat slower. It's an ancient rhythm that helps your heart last a lifetime.

Remember to breath could be our campaign...

The virtual Water project

This virtual water project is awesome.
It would be really cool to be able to measure stress and document it... I'm going to see if there is any research anywhere for this. Maybe we could create a map for stress free travel with hot zones and cool zones of possible stress. With information on how to remain calm. Maybe we could target one small area in Toronto as a "test" location. We could also paint the landscape and write little messages that correspond to the map (virtually of course). In the end we could tie it all together with a website, poster and images documenting everything like the water project.

Major concepts

Hey Everyone,

I really loved everything you posted Amy and to help steer us all in the direction of solidifying what we should be trying to accomplish, I went through and found the three major ideas out of the campaigns you posted. I hope this helps.

1. Working our campaign into the natural landscape.
(e.g. parking lot paint - dunk driving)
2. Visually expressing what we stand for and allowing no misinterpretation.
(e.g. "use only what you need")
3. Find a clever play on words / slogan that will make people stop and think.
(e.g. global warming we can win)

An Idea We Spoke About
One idea i remember speaking about to you guys was that "remember to breath" writing in the subway. If we were to attempt something like this we would be targeting pedestrian travel. The most stressful moments during travelling on the subway is not once you are on the subway, I think stress levels go down at that point. It is when you are trying to get there. so the point of interest would be the stairways and hallways leading to the actual train. People are rushing and shoving and the anxiety is rising at these points in travel because you don't know yet if the train is already there or if you have missed it. Most people are rushing because they have somewhere to be. I think we could even look at the architectural space of these areas. The hallways and the stairways are small and crouded increasing stress levels. We could also look at the colours of these spaces. They are muted and muddy. In huge contrast to this is Montreals sybway system. It has a very open, stressfree feeling and it is much more colourful. This could be one thing that causes the stress.

Another point of stress for pedestrians is sidewalk traffic. I'm not sure if any of you have noticed but walking down a crouded sidewalk can be stressful as well like a crouded hallway. People are always trying to get from point A to point B and they think they have to get there as fast as they can. They need to stop and smell the roses. We could paint some courtesy sidewalk behavior rules on the sidewals or put a traffic line down the middle. We could also put relaxing comments on crosswalk poles that people would have no choice but noticing.

I think there is a stress between the pedestrian and the vehicle in toronto. We dont see eachother as human. the car sees the person as annoyance and in the way and the person sees the car as a jerk and believes it is their right to cross when the light is on. There is no communication between these two parties. Maybe this could be a place of interest.

Visual Research: Driving Safety

Here's a campaign I saw about driving safety. I really like how clever the project was in terms of connecting with the public. I think that the items that got me thinking and interested were not so much the printed pieces, but the ideas that went that extra step. Take a look at more images from the campaign at: http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Cars-are-for-Driving/60505

Visual Research: Denver Water Conservation

I like this campaign because it has 1 idea that it reinforces through various mediums. Although I don't think it necessarily relates to our topic of stress. It's by Sukle Advertising & Design, check out more images here: http://www.sukle.com/

Visual Research: Other interesting campaigns

Wouldn't it be interesting if we could measure stress? or something
like that?

I like how this is incorporated into the urban landscape. Working off of what the public already knows and understands.

This reminds me of Helena's idea about caffeine and stress.

I like the idea of a play on words. It makes the campaign clever
and enticing.

I just thought this was clever.

Website for stress related illnesses

http://www.stressrelatedillness.com/

Interesting/Informative Links

I just came across this link that has some info on a campaign for stress. There is also info about stress in relation to occupations/jobs. Maybe we can think of doing one for designers and the stresses related to our field... (just a thought).

http://www.anxietyandstress.com/stress.html

also, this site has some nice topics with info that relate to stress:
http://www.unf.edu/dept/counseling_center/selfhelp.html

Maybe we can see if caffine increases stress??

I was reading all these negative effects about caffeine, and then i saw this beautiful picture... I think caffeine might cause stress as well. It's a nice graphic.
This is the image of a normal spider and then a caffeinated spider.


check this site out:
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://caffeineweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/CaffeinatedSpider.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.adastreet.com.au/content/cms/CAFFEINE/2015/&usg=__efAsLEj1TsjK2sF8whvGpGXgY1w=&h=327&w=369&sz=84&hl=en&start=38&sig2=via7Tk1AdS2Fr3SMLI7cnA&um=1&tbnid=_uEx0narltEuSM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=122&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstress%2Bnervouse%2Bsystem%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1&ei=hjPlSfGpDonQMu3krfIJ

Nervouse System

More info

Stress is perceived via the brain and sent to three specific parts of the body :

• The 'action' muscles, arm and legs muscles for example
• The vital organs like the heart, lungs etc.
• The glands and parts of the brain responsible for altering the biochemistry within the body.

In this way, the body prepares for the classic 'fight or flight' reponse to a situation. The muscles are primed for fighting or running. The heart beats faster to supply blood, oxygen and energy to the body. The glands, notably the adrenal glands produce adrenline, a sort of 'turbo boost' for the body in a stressful situation.

This response is said to have evolved during the time when mankind had to fight to protect his territory or possessions or run from dangerous animals or foe. The response has stayed with man in the modern age but does not work as well when the stressful incidents are internal and chronic rather than external and intermittent. So how does this stress affect the health ?

Stress affects people in different ways

Stress affects everyone in different ways so it is impossible to give a definitive list of health complaints due to stress.

However, for sudden stressful events typical symptoms are :

• a rise in blood presure
• tension headaches
• shallow breathing
• tightening of muscles, for example the clenching of a jaw or fists is a telltale sign.

For chronic, persistent and unrelieved stress the affects on health are far more serious.

Typical symptoms include :

• Heart disease is common in people under high and continued stress. This stress is just as likely to be mental and emotional as it is to be physical stress. Strokes and artery clogging are also thought to be caused by stress.
• Lowering of the immune system which leads to increased chances of catching flu, colds and other infections. It is thought that the white blood cells that defend the body against these infections are reduced in people that undergo prolonged stress.
• Gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea, constipation, stomach cramps and irritable bowel syndrome are all thought to be caused and aggravated by high levels of stress.
• Sexual function can be affected. In men this might be due to a restriction of blood flow which might cause temporary impotence. In women it could be a loss of sexual desire, PMS symptoms can be heightened and in some cases of high stress menstruation may stop.
• Brain functions can be reduced or diminished by high levels of stress. Hence a persons ability to concentrate on things can be affected. They cn suffer from memory loss nd find learning difficult.
  Sleeping patterns can be severely disrupted or insomnia.
• Other symptoms include increased insulin resistance, blood clots due to changed consistency of blood, joint pain and tension headaches.

As you can see the symptoms can be varied and can be a combination or all of the above so it is extremely hard to combat prolonged and chronic stress.
The secret to dealing with this stress before it gets to the stage of no return is to be aware of the changes in the body. The body responds to stress in ways listed above. By reacting to this change and altering your behaviour to limit the stressful events you can reduce the chances of serious health complications occurring.

http://www.stressmanagementreview.com/How_does_stress_affect_health.html

INFO

The nervous system comprises the brain, the spine and the multitude of nerves throughout the body. The nervous system runs the body. In this respect, it is responsible for making sure the organs within the body do the right things at the right time. It is also responsible for making the body react to external stimulus. It schedules, monitors and makes decisions that keep the body functioning and aware. This is commonly termed homeostasis. As you can imagine this is an extremely complex task that we often tend to take for granted.

If the nervous system was to fail or become damaged a person could lose the ability to walk, talk, feel pain and a whole host of other things. So does stress affect the nervous system, and if so, does it cause it to malfunction ?

The nervous system is different from most of the other systems within the body because it is effectively the monitor of stress for the body. If the nervous system senses that a situation is stressful it causes physiological changes within the body to occur.

Some of these physiological changes include making the heart beat faster, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream, drawing blood away from the stomach and extremities of the body and dilating the pupils of the eyes. This is known as the fight or flight response.

All these changes are necessary for the body in sudden stressful situations but are extremely damaging to the health when they stop being an exception and become the norm. This commonly occurs when the body is experiencing chronic or persistent stress or if the nervous system tells the body that this is the case.

This final point is important because the nervous system also controls how the body reacts after a stressful situation. This is often termed the rest and digest response. Amongst other things, the nervous system reduces the amount of energy hormones in the bloodstream, reduces the heart rate and redirects blood to the stomach and extremities. It is a way of saying everything is ok again, you can start eating again.

If the nervous system is constantly telling the body to be on a state of high alert then it can't or won't tell the body to calm down and relax. Ultimately this is dangerous to the health of the body. This is why relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga and deep breathing are popular methods for convincing the nervous system that everything is ok and that the body can start to relax.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Stress-Affects-The-Nervous-System&id=505608

Another blog to see...

http://medicmania.blogspot.com/2006/05/stress-part-1-culprits.html

"Remember to BREATH!"

During the moments that you check to see if you are breathing, you mind is completely relaxed and focused on that one thing. It's a very nice reminder.

I heard this guy talking about breathing:
http://www.eckharttolle.com/eckharttolle

Inspiration!

Here are the links I was talking about. 

Virtual Water

Influence Map

The Influence map is by Marian Bantjes....honestly the goddess of Type! 

First post (yay)

Saw this and just thought it was cute... Also, I found a link of some more stress related comics at: http://www.wolfescape.com/Humour/WorkStress.htm