Largest Study Of App Delivery Of Mindfulness Practices Finds Anxiety Decreased By 46%

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- New data analysis confirms that consistent usage of Stop, Breathe & Think mindfulness and meditation activities over time yields significant mental health results, including decreased anxiety and increased positive emotion.

Dr. Nicholas J. Schork, a prominent biostatistician and health data expert at UC San Diego, analyzed data from over 10,000 users of the popular emotional wellness app Stop, Breathe & Think over a 13-month period. The results were dramatic, with an impact as early as the first session.

"This analysis paints a beautiful, promising picture for everyone in the greater community working alongside us to understand and apply the maximum benefits of mindfulness, meditation and digital therapeutics," commented Stop Breathe & Think Co-Founder and President Jamie Price. "Our mission is to make these practices as accessible and routine as physical exercise, and with this information, we are also being shown that users are reaping benefits every bit as tangible as those from physical exercise." 

Anxiety is the number one reported problem users endorse in the app, reported twice as much as the next problem area. The sustained long-term benefits of using the unique check-in feature paired with mindfulness activities averaging five minutes also included improved mood overall.

• 52% of people come into the first pre-activity check in saying they are anxious
• After just 10 sessions, baseline anxiety improved with 41% of users reporting feeling anxious
• After 100 sessions, baseline anxiety continued to improve with just 28% of users reporting feeling anxious (a 46% improvement in anxiety)
• With only 30% of users reporting feeling predominantly positive prior to meditating for the first time, that percentage more than doubled to 78% immediately after their first session.
• Baseline sentiment continues to improve over time and with length of usage.

Users of Stop, Breathe & Think complete both a pre- and post-meditation check-in to reflect on their baseline mental, physical and emotional wellbeing, and are then provided with short activities tailored to that information. This unique feature allowed researchers to examine both the immediate and long-term changes in users' emotional states. Stop, Breathe & Think has collected over 11 million emotional check-ins to date. The analysis was based on responses from May 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, from 10,000 users who completed ten or more sessions with the app.

Schork presented aspects of his findings at the MIT Media Lab's Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Development to Improve Public Health. Schork, who serves as Distinguished Professor of Quantitative Medicine at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Director of Human Biology at the J. Craig Venter Institute, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Diego, is currently preparing the analysis for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. He also serves on the Stop, Breathe & Think scientific advisory board.

"As we were developing this app, we of course became very familiar with the studies establishing the positive brain level effects of meditation and mindfulness," said Julie Campistron, CEO of Stop, Breathe & Think. "This data analysis offers additional insight because it was culled in real time in the real world, and looks at both short-term and cumulative effects of meditation using the Stop, Breathe & Think platform and methods. In an age of such widespread anxiety, especially with younger generations, we are thrilled that our Stop Breathe & Think users are experiencing this sustained improvement in their sense of wellbeing, and excited about what this data says about the general efficacy of long-term emotional wellness programs. We continue to explore factors that contribute to people's sense of wellbeing and how they might impact their experience with the app."

"The science on mindfulness to promote emotional well-being continues to show positive benefits, even when delivery is via mobile devices and apps," shared Susan Smalley, Ph.D., co-author of the book, Fully Present, and head of the Stop, Breathe & Think Scientific Advisory Board. "With this analysis, we can look at benefits across large numbers of people and over time. With SBT's initial data analysis of 10,000 users, we see well-being improve and anxiety decrease in the first session, but even more interesting, the change is steady over time, even with short practice sessions. While additional research is needed, including controlled trials to determine the source of this change, the initial data provide intriguing support that app delivery of emotional well-being practices is feasible and quite useful."

About Stop, Breathe & Think
Stop, Breathe & Think is the first emotional wellness platform for the "under 25" generation, with the mission to help kids, teens and young adults build the emotional strength to tackle life's ups and downs. The 5-star-rated app, winner of the 2017 Webby People's Voice Award for Best Health App, is paving the way to everyday emotional wellness with bite-size personalized content and activities based on user emotions. Co-Founded by Jamie Price and Julie Campistron, Stop, Breathe & Think has reached a large consumer appeal with over 3M organic downloads. Its personalized experience has been praised by users and media and has allowed the team to build the world's largest database of real life emotional data with over 11M emotional check-ins to date. That data is unequivocally proving the efficacy of the app, especially as it relates to stress and anxiety. Stop, Breathe & Think was born out of Tools for Peace (TFP), a non-profit dedicated teaching mindfulness and meditation to inner city teens. Ten percent of Stop Breathe & Think's net sales work to fund TFP and help further this mission. Stop, Breathe & Think is available on iOS, Android, Alexa and Slack and can be accessed here:http://www.stopbreathethink.com

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SOURCE Stop, Breathe & Think

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