Wellness Buddy

Inspiration

Current times have forced many to attend virtual meetings and work on devices. With increased screen time and more than enough reasons to be stressed, we believed that it was necessary for people to be able to take a break and step away from their devices.

Describe the problem your solution addresses:

Significant numbers of American workers have shifted to working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This requires workers to spend prolonged periods of time working on their computers and phones and attending virtual meetings, potentially leading to mental fatigue and stress. According to data provided by NordVPN, the average American work day has increased by about 3 hours. This not only reduces productivity, but also harms mental and physical health. Even before the pandemic, many office workers stayed stagnant in front of their desks, which contributed to the American health crisis.

What it does

Our app stands out in its ability to simplify the process of setting reminders while also providing the perfect amount of flexibility for users to customize their experience. Another important feature in our app is the way in which it notifies users of a break, effectively freezing the device until a timer runs out. Instead of offering a friendly notification that the user may ultimately ignore, Wellness Buddy hopes to ensure that users step away from their devices and take a well-needed break.

How we built it

We started exploring some of the impacts towards mental health and wellness as a result of COVID-19 and decided to address this problem statement: How might we reduce the effects of burnout and fatigue from virtual work environments while maintaining productive and functional lives? We had conducted research the ideal duration of breaks as well as the various activities that people can do to destress and increase productivity. At the same time, we also explored other wellness apps and looked into user complaints and reviews to improve upon and further innovate the way in which wellness apps interact with users.

Why did you pick this solution and how does it address the problem?

We chose this solution because we believe it addresses the problem by reminding people to take spaced out wellness breaks during the day, which allows them to mentally and physically refresh. Our app provides a diverse selection of activities for the user, which are grouped into categories of exercise, hydration, healthy snacking, stretching, and napping. These breaks include activities such as doing 20 pushups, drinking a glass of water, and eating fruit, and the user can create custom break activities. In an article published in Time Magazine, research shows that people’s concentration wanes after about 52 minutes of focus, and taking a break for 17 minutes fully refreshes people. Our app leverages this by providing notifications every hour by default, with intervals that can be customized by the user.

Challenges we ran into

Perhaps the biggest challenge we faced was deciding on a solution. Initially, we had three viable solutions that we felt could work, and we had difficulty choosing one over the other. After picking a solution, we wanted to ensure that it was feasible and properly addressed mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to its scalability and its new method of user interaction, we finally decided to go with what would become Wellness Buddy.

Accomplishments that we are proud of

We are proud to have designed a fleshed out application in such a short amount of time. The amount of thought and care we gave every feature of our app was worth it, as the finished design clearly demonstrates.

What we learned

We learned about the process of design thinking and about the importance of working as a team to identify problems and devise solutions to them. We also discovered the importance of taking breaks as we fleshed out the solution to the problem.

What's next for Wellness Buddy

We plan to both intrinsically and extrinsically motivate the user with statistics that support taking breaks and by gamifying this component by rewarding the user for taking breaks when scheduled. We hope to grow from an idea to an app that people can use to take care of themselves during these stressful times. We firmly believe that Wellness Buddy can make a difference in our users' mental health.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GSoEzQ9CrkNmSUzTtYqLbAC6JoYd04JW/view?usp=sharing