HELP! I am stressed: Meditate with Headspace

Headspace: How it All Started

Ever have one of those days that you just feel so stressed: stressing about all the work that needs to get done, stressing about having to find time to go grocery shopping, stressing about the pieces of furniture that are yet to sell? First, anxiety hits...then you lose your focus....next you find yourself spending hours worrying and end up doing nothing. Productivity is affected, your mood is affected even your appetite is affected.

I recently have one of those days. Finally sat down after a long transit back home (three full buses passed by the bus stop). Already feeling really exhausted, but all these things I need to get done started popping into my mind. Next thing I know, these thoughts are occupying my whole brain. I can't tell if these thoughts are anxiety, stress, discourage or whatever. All of a sudden, I remembered that I downloaded a meditation app called Headspace. Perhaps, I should give it a try.

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Headspace: UX/Digital Analysis

As I was laying in bed, I took out my phone and opened Headspace. The nicely designed homepage is the first thing that comes up.

While I was looking through to find where I should start my first meditation session, this pop-up window shows up

A cute little pop-up window is kind of a nice surprise. I wasn't sure which one to start off but inside the window, it says: "Every day, we'll deliver a new session straight to your app. Each one lived for 24 hours and has its own unique theme."Instantly, I felt like a special guest where they delivered room service to your hotel every day during your stay. This is definitely a nice touch on user experience. Props to the designers who came up with this idea. As a user who has no experience prior to this session, having something chosen for you is a great way to start. I thought if this window never showed up, I might have just exited the app until I encountered another stressful situation.

So I clicked the "Try today's meditation" button to start my first session. I would consider this as a call-to-action button. The button is located in a great spot with high visuality.

After the click, I got to say...this is a nice little hourglass thing showing you how much of the session that has been downloaded. I like this feature because I like to see how much longer I need to wait for the downloading. Very smart touch on the design aspect! I feel like the designers really worked hard to make sure not to lose people on every step of the user journey.

Headspace: The meditation begins

After being fascinated by the hourglass downloading feature, the meditation begins. There goes a British men's voice as one of the New Yorker articles by Lizzie Widdicombe perfectly puts it:

With noise-canceling headphones, the app creates a surprisingly intimate experience ---- Puddicombe could be whispering in your ear. by Lizzie Widdicombe

First, He gives you a little introduction to today's meditation. Then, he gets you to close your eyes, breath slowly and notice the background noises as well as aware of the weight of your body. A 3 min session is a good length and I quickly find myself feeling less anxious. For a good 3 minutes, my mind was focused on the happy things instead of focusing on stressful things. I quickly fell asleep after that.

Headspace: Final Thoughts

I would definitely keep this app and try out more of the free sessions. Not sure about paying for a subscription at this moment, but who knows? I might subscribe to one in the future. Definitely a design-focused user interface and user experience. I can tell a lot of work has been done to keep the user on the app and low bounce rate. I like simple and good looking app. Another note is that the guy guiding the meditation has worked in the medical clinic using his meditation techniques to treat patients with high blood pressure and insomnia. As I mentioned on my about page: I believe living healthy is no longer just about the absence of disease, it is about taking care of yourself physically, mentally and socially.

This meditation app is developed through sustainable research evidence. Bringing meditation from a physical class to a cyberspace, it allows access for more people. People can easily try out one session at home after work, school or before bed no matter where they are. Digital health strives to optimize the high-quality technology to improve one's health through all aspects. Headspace is just a start.

Check out The New Yorker Article on headspace Here

Learn more about Headspace

Tell me about your experience using Headspace

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