Wisdo, the Award-Winning Emotional Wellness Platform, Launches Largest Study to Date of 25 Million American and British Students' Emotional Responses to COVID-19

MILL VALLEY, Calif., April 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Wisdo, the transformative self-care platform that helps guide people through meaningful life events, today announces the "Class of COVID-19" study - the largest wellness study of its kind, including 25 million college and university students in the U.S. and U.K. Professor Ariely of Duke University and Dr. Tom Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, will oversee this groundbreaking study. Starting today, students with an .edu or .ac.uk email address can sign up for Wisdo and receive free access to the platform for six months.

The "Class of COVID-19" study anonymously aggregates user data to provide insights into the emotional wellbeing of students in today's society. The study has been kick-started with data from existing users. Initial findings include:

• Between March 1^st and 22^nd, nearly 10% of all college-aged users placed pandemic anxiety as the number one concern in life, outstripping other stresses such as heartbreak and job anxiety three-to-one.
• An unprecedented spike in depression, anxiety and loneliness is paired with a drop in healthier interests, such as physical fitness, academic success and body health.
• Sleep problems are on the rise, with one in every five new members listing this issue as their most pressing.
• News and social media play a large role in the rising tide of anxiety, with 10% "Worrying Excessively" and, contrary to many reports, only 2% interested in "Debunking Coronavirus Myths."

"Our global network exists to help every person navigate life's challenges through the care and support of those who've been through similar experiences," said Boaz Gaon, Founder and CEO, Wisdo. "We're launching this study because that same network can provide mental and emotional wellness researchers with a wealth of knowledge on the effects of COVID-19; we hope that at its completion, this study can help colleges and professionals both prepare students for a changed world as they enter the workforce and anticipate the challenges COVID-19 will have for incoming classes."

"This research study will be the first of its kind, giving the academic community a powerful insight into the emotional wellbeing of college students as they face a challenging economic reality, quarantines and disruptions to their academic progress," said Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics, Duke University's Center for Advanced Hindsight.

"COVID-19's effects are incredibly far-reaching. Ultimately, the impact on the economy and mental health may surpass the acute effects of the virus, especially for young people. A large-scale study of people in the 18-25 age bracket will inform how we can meet the challenges posed by COVID-19 on many fronts to help us grow as a society," said Dr. Thomas R. Insel, Former Director, National Institute of Mental Health and Co-Founder of NEST Health.

If you're a college student in the U.S. or a university student in the U.K., visit www.wisdo.com and sign in with an .edu or .ac.uk email address for six months of free access to the emotional wellness self-care platform helping more than a million people rise to life's challenges.

Upon sign-up, Wisdo users click through a series of topics representing life's most consequential journeys. By selecting either "Been There" or "There Now," users can identify themselves as either a potential mentor or someone in need of guidance. Finally, users select up to three "Goals," which represent where they would like to grow emotionally and mentally. Within 60 seconds, Wisdo's machine learning creates a "Wisdom Map" of people with similar experiences and introduces each user to seven people, including four "Been There" peers, two professional coaches and a safety agent.

For more information on Wisdo, you can visit its website wisdo.com or follow it on Twitter @WeAreWisdo. Download the app, available on both the App Store and Google Play Store.

About Wisdo
Wisdo is an emotional wellness self-care platform that provides users encountering life's challenges and meaningful events with wisdom from others who have lived through similar experiences. Its "Wisdo for Business" arm implements the same wellness-increasing techniques among customers and workforces. To date, Wisdo has won the following industry awards: #1 on Google Play for 2019 for Social Impact, Best 5 apps for 2019 for Personal Development and one of the "World's Most Innovative Companies" by Fast Company for 2019. Wisdo received funding from leading Silicon Valley angel investors and funds. It provides 1:1 and group matches to people who've "been there", are helpful and are available in under 58 seconds by "crowdsourcing" the structure of human experiences and then presenting click-throughs such as "Been There," "There Now" and "Goals." For more information, visit www.wisdo.com

SOURCE Wisdo

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