Research Study Validates the Pip as a Tool to Help Reduce Stress

DUBLIN, IRELAND--(Marketwired - Jun 1, 2016) - Galvanic, Ltd., committed to connected health solutions that empower people to take control of their health and mental well-being, today announced that a research study by Trinity College Dublin (TCD), "Smartphone applications utilizing biofeedback can aid stress reduction," found that using the Pip, a wireless biofeedback device and companion Apps, effectively reduces stress. The study compared the use of the Pip's companion Apps with a conventional gaming App and concluded that using the Pip's Apps significantly reduces the short-term psychological and physiological signs of stress.

Research Findings 
The study, comprised of 50 university students aged between 18 and 35, assessed the effectiveness of two smartphone application games combined with biofeedback to help reduce stress. Biofeedback is a technique which uses technology to allow users to visualize changes in physiological signals their bodies produce. By visualizing these changes, users can try different techniques as they learn to gain conscious control over this response. The study found that a half hour use of the Pip following a stress-induction procedure significantly reduced heart rate and perceived stress. Specifically, using the Pip's corresponding apps, 'Relax and Race' and 'The Loom,' for approximately 15 minutes each reduced self-reported stress by 50 percent and heart rate by 8 percent compared to the control group.

"The development of small wireless biofeedback devices, like the Pip, and biofeedback-based Apps gives people a window into their physical response to stress, helping them learn to control it," said Ian Robertson, Professor of Psychology at TCD and Chair of Galvanic's Scientific Advisory Board. "The findings of this study indicate this can reduce short-term stress. While it has shown that in the short term the Pip was effective at reducing stress, we also know that people who regularly practice reducing stress can learn to reduce their stress response on demand."

"Biofeedback has been used by psychologists to help treat a variety of stress and stress related conditions since the 1970s and is already well recognized as an effective technique," said David Ingram, CEO of Galvanic. "Our goal with the Pip is to make this tool available to everyone. Since its launch in 2014, schools, therapists and psychologists around the world have been using and recommending it to help people, young and old, manage stress. Recent feedback from a school in Wisconsin said that the Pip has helped their students become more aware of their stress response and apply these learnings to day to day stressful situations. This feedback only builds on the Trinity College Study research findings."

These complete findings were recently published in Frontiers of Psychology, a leading peer-reviewed psychology journal and can be downloaded here.