The Pip | 8/11 | Pip Pip

Clarity – Pip’s Newest Stress Management App

by The Pipon 30 March 2016in PipNews, PipUse

Today, we’re delighted to announce the launch of Clarity – the latest companion App for the Pip. Clarity makes learning to manage stress simple. Using short relaxation exercises and audio feedback Clarity will help you improve your focus and bring some calm into your busy life. Choose between guided and un-guided exercises and a selection of soundscapes, including a rainy day, a beach and urban park. With Clarity, your changing stress levels are translated into guiding sounds. When your mind wanders the sounds intensify and when you’re calm you’ll hear more peaceful sounds.

Screenshots

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Guided relaxation techniques

Clarity includes 3 guidance exercises you can try:

Body scanning – body scanning is a relaxation technique where you mentally scan your body, concentrating on one area at a time. Follow this exercise to let go of pent up stress and focus your attention

Mantra – mantras are repeated words or phrases that help bring you back to a calm state. Follow this exercise to help improve your calm, focus and mental clarity

Counting the breath – controlled breathing techniques can help you feel calm and relaxed. Follow this breath counting technique to improve your calm, focus and mental clarity

Soundscapes:

Rainy day with guidance – Preview Below

[audio mp3="https://thepip.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Rainy-Day-with-guide-preview.mp3"][/audio]

Ocean walk with guidance – Preview Below

[audio mp3="https://thepip.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Ocean-Walk-with-guide-preview.mp3"][/audio]

Urban escape with guidance – Preview Below

[audio mp3="https://thepip.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Urban-Escape-with-guide-preview.mp3"][/audio]

Syncs automatically with My Pip

Clarity syncs automatically with My Pip – your cloud platform for better living. With My Pip you have free access to easy-to-read charts and graphs, daily insights and real time feedback, showing you exactly during a Pip session when you were focussed and relaxing, or stressed and your mind is wandering.

Clarity is available to download for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store now.

Who Needs Easter Eggs when you can have Chocolate Pips?

by The Pipon 24 March 2016in PipLife

Introducing, for a limited time only – The PIP in dark and white chocolate!

With Easter fast approaching we decided to take a little time to celebrate – the PIP way. We racked our engineering and creative minds together to make chocolate PIPs.

Here’s our step by step guide to making your own festive Easter chocolate PIPs.

1. Make your mould

The mould was a simple rig made of two empty PIP shells suspended from above. We used Food Grade Silicone Moulding Rubber for the mould material. We simply mixed the base and agent until we had the right consistency, then filled rig.

Once the mould was filled it was left to set – which took about 24 hours. We then removed the plastics and cleaned out the moulds to remove any residue. The end result – a perfect PIP shaped mould ready to add chocolate.

2. Fill mould with melted chocolate

With limited cooking facilities in the office we used the microwave to melt the chocolate. For anyone who hasn’t microwaved chocolate before, here is a quick guide:

· Break chocolate into small chunks (it melts faster and more evenly). Set microwave to low heat setting.

· Check regularly (10-20 sec intervals) and stir each time you check it. This helps it melt evenly. Nobody likes burnt chocolate.

Proceed to fill the mould with melted chocolate using a spoon. Be careful not to let it overflow, as we discovered on our first attempt. This can happen very easily if not careful.

3. Let sit and solidify

We put the filled moulds into the fridge where we let them rest for about an hour.

4. Remove from Moulds

When the chocolate has fully set you can remove the chocolates from the mould. Make sure to be careful and not break the chocolate!

5. Stick the shells together

Once you have your collection of PIP chocolates you can go ahead and use the remainder of melted chocolate (you will have to reheat it!) to stick the pieces together.

Make sure to let sit for at least 20/30 minutes.

6. Et Voila..

Festive Chocolate PIPs to enjoy for Easter!

The Pip – How to get started – Part 3

by The Pipon 4 March 2016in PipUse

Everybody is different and so one relaxation technique may work better for you than others. We are going to help you make that first step in taking control of your stress by giving you three examples of well-known relaxation techniques to start you off.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Our last two relaxation techniques focussed on the breath. Now we are going to focus on the muscles. A lot of the time we are holding onto tension in one part of our body without really being aware of it. With a muscle held taught in our body it is difficult to truly relax. This exercise will teach you to scan your body slowly releasing all of that tension, all of the worries from the day and all of the stress.

Sit or lie down somewhere comfortable. Let your breathing slow to a normal pace. Start by focussing on your toes. Curl them all together as tight as you can and hold the tension for 5 seconds. Feel the muscles clench and grip. 1-2-3-4-5. Release them and let the tension flow out of your body.
Next tense the muscle in your calves by pulling your feet up towards your knees. Feel the tension in the back of your legs and feet. Hold for 5 seconds, 1-2-3-4-5, and relax.
Now push your thighs together and hold, tense, for 5 seconds. Release. Pull your buttocks together and hold them tense for 5 seconds. 1-2-3-4-5. Relax and let the tension flow out.
Next suck your stomach in and hold the muscles tight. 1-2-3-4-5. Relax.
Squeeze the muscles in the whole of your back and hold for 5. Note the tension. 1-2-3-4-5. Relax.
Make a fist of each hand. Feel the tension in the back of hand, the fingers, the thumb. Hold for 5 seconds. 1-2-3-4-5. Relax.
Bring your shoulders up to your ears, tense as much as you can for 5 seconds. Be aware of that tension. 1-2-3-4-5.And relax.
Open your jaw as widely as you can squeeze your facial features into a grimace. Move the jaw around to increase the tension in different place. Notice every muscle that is being held taught in your face. Hold this for 5 seconds. 1-2-3-4-5. And relax.
Shut your eyes as tightly as you can, feel them screwed together. 1-2-3-4-5. Relax.
Now raise your eyebrows as high as you can, feel the tension in your forehead and eye socket. Hold this for 5 seconds. 1-2-3-4-5. And relax.
Sit still for 10 seconds and allow any tension to flow out of your body leaving your muscles soft and relaxed.

These are just some of our suggestions to help you get started on your mission to take control of your stress. There are lots of other relaxation techniques and you may find that one of these works better for you than others. Or you may come up with some of your own. Let the Pip guide you as you try out different techniques until you find that will melt stress away and leave you feeling calm and relaxed.

The Pip – How to get started – Part 2

by The Pipon 4 March 2016in PipUse

Breathing Exercise 2 – Focus

This is a task in which you count your breaths but don’t control them.

Sit or lie down in a comfy position.
Wait a few moments to let yourself relax.
When you are ready you are going to label the next breath that comes naturally as number ‘1’.
Wait until the breath comes, don’t breathe to the counting.
As you say the number 1 picture it any way you can. See it clearly in your mind’s eye.
Wait for the next breath to come naturally and label it number ‘2’. Picture the number 2 clearly in your mind.
Do this until you get all the way to number 10. When you get to 10 start again at number 1.
Focus on the numbers, don’t hold your breath or match it to your counting. Keep it natural and focussed.

All thoughts should melt away as you focus on the slow, predictable numbers. Your body should start to respond and you will feel your muscles relax and your mind slow down. You can check if it is working for you using one of the PIP apps. The green ‘relaxed’ bar on the Stress Tracker will start to rise, the tree will bloom in the Loom and your hot air balloon will fly magestically over the scenery in Relax and Race.

The Pip – How to Get Started – Part 1

by The Pipon 4 March 2016in PipUse

Breathing Exercise 1 – Control

Take a seat in a comfy chair or lie down if that is more comfortable.
Wait a few moments to let yourself relax into a good position.
Place a hand on your stomach and just feel it move up and down as you breathe naturally.
Do this for a few seconds.
Now you are ready to start the exercise.

Association of Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback (AAPB) Annual Conference, Seattle, March 9-12 2016

by The Pipon 24 February 2016in meet the team

The Pip team will be exhibiting at the Association of Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback (AAPB) Annual Conference in Seattle, Washington from the 9th – 12th March, 2016.

Visit our stand “Booth No. 7″ and meet our Head of Business Development, Darren Ross, and Research Psychologist, Deirdre Robertson, to learn more about Pip, how it can help you practice biofeedback techniques and discuss our stress expert, reseller and research partnerships.

Deirdre Robertson will also be presenting a poster on a recent study conducted by Trinity College Dublin which used the Pip to investigate Gaming-Style Biofeedback as a Stress Reduction Tool. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of a stress reduction intervention that combines smartphone technology with a commercially available biofeedback device and the results showed that Pip reduced the physiological and psychological markers of stress.

Learning to manage stress with Pip just got even better

by The Pipon 19 February 2016in PipLife

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Today, we launched My Pip – your cloud platform for better living. My Pip will provide you with more actionable data and deeper insights into your stress levels, encouraging and keeping you motivated as you learn to successfully manage stress.

New for all Pip users

My Pip syncs automatically with Pips’ Apps – Relax & Race, The Loom and Stress Tracker. At the end of each Pip session your performance data is uploaded instantly to My Pip. Access My Pip through Pip’s Apps or here mypip.thepip.com.

How My Pip helps you learn to better manage stress

Stay motivated
Just like learning any new skill, learning to manage stress takes regular practice. My Pip helps you stay motivated by setting you a Session Goal. Every Pip session you do counts towards your Goal and My Pip show you your progress towards achieving this goal.

Easy-to-read charts and graphs
By visualising your changing stress levels you can try different techniques to control it. My Pip lets you track and analyse your stress levels and Pip performance with easy-to-read charts and graphs.

Daily insights
Modern life is busy, demanding and stressful. My Pip lets you compare how you respond to stressful situations during the week, helping you identify stress triggers and develop the right tools to better manage them.

Real-time feedback
The Pip accurately determines whether your body’s stressing or relaxing. My Pip lets you see exactly during a Pip session when you were focussed and relaxing, or stressed and your mind is wandering.

Keep a journal
Connect your thoughts and feelings with your changing stress levels. Keep a journal in My Pip. Note your mood, and any thoughts or feelings that arise during your Pip session. This helps you identify what effect they have on your stress levels.

Actionable insights
Compare your performance in the different Pips Apps. Identify trends in your response to stress. My Pip gives you deeper insights to help you learn to control your body’s response to stress.

Download the latest version of Pip’s Apps in iTunes or Google Play store and start enjoying the benefits of My Pip.

The importance of Mental Fitness

by The Pipon 2 February 2016in PipLife

We all know that staying physically fit is important for our health. Many of us flock to gyms at the start of every January with the best of intentions to be physically active. How many of us, however, take care to stay mentally fit as well? Mental fitness is an umbrella term used to encompass a huge range of factors such as emotional wellbeing, ability to cope with difficult situations, mental agility and adeptness at solving problems. There are many things that we can do to improve our mental fitness but there is no quick fix.

Just like becoming physically fit it takes time, practice and an individualised plan to find what works for any one person. The first step for nearly everyone, however, is to recognise what may need improvement and to focus on the next small step to achieve that.

One of the biggest problems in the modern world is stress and for many people reducing stress will be the major focus to improve their mental fitness. But did you know that stress can be both good and bad? Too much stress is detrimental for health, emotional wellbeing and mental agility [1]. But too little stress can be equally damaging [2]. Read more

We all need a certain level of challenge to hit the ‘sweet spot’ of stress. Psychologists call this an inverted U-curve whereby too or too much little stress leaves us mentally unfit but the right amount allows us to sharpen our mental abilities and focus. See example below.

A good way to find this ‘sweet spot’ is to be aware of our emotions and our stress levels. Some people advocate keeping a stress diary for a few days. This is a journal in which you jot down times during the day when you felt stressed, what caused it and what you did, if anything, that made you feel better (e.g. [3]). Another way to become aware of your emotions and stress is to use biofeedback using devices such as the PIP. Biofeedback allows you to see ‘signals’ in your body and respond to them. The Pip allows you to see changes in your skin that happen when you are stressed.

When you use the Pip regularly you will start to notice days or specific times when you are more or less stressed and this will allow you to find out what works for you to stay in the ‘sweet spot’. You might find that on the days you were physically active before or afterwards you were better able to cope with stressful events. Or it may be that when you planned to spend time with friends or family this helped you to feel challenged rather than threatened when faced with a stressful situation. Read more

Everyone is different but becoming aware of the triggers that affect your mental health and the ways to counteract them will start you on a path to improving your mental, and maybe even physical, fitness.

Miller, G.E., E. Chen, and E.S. Zhou, If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans. Psychological bulletin, 2007. 133(1): p. 25.
Schilling, T.M., et al., For whom the bell (curve) tolls: Cortisol rapidly affects memory retrieval by an inverted U-shaped dose–response relationship. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2013. 38(9): p. 1565-1572.
Clarkson, G.P. and G.P. Hodgkinson, What can occupational stress diaries achieve that questionnaires can’t? Personnel Review, 2007. 36(5): p. 684-700.

3 foods that can help reduce stress

by The Pipon 25 January 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

We’ve all done it. When we feel stressed or overwhelmed it’s natural to reach for the most unhealthy, comforting carbohydrates you can lay your hands on – chocolate, pizza, crisps and chicken fillet rolls have all filled that void. Stressful or emotional eating is a common means of coping with stress [1]. But while it may provide a temporary pleasure boost it’s probably not the best idea to eat a packet of crisps every time you’ve had a hard day at work. Luckily there are other, often healthier, foods which can help to temporarily reduce stress. Here we have 3 alternatives:

Chamomile tea:

Take a break from coffee and try chamomile tea. Chamomile is an ancient medicinal herb commonly ground down to make a herbal tea. Chamomile has been found to help alleviate symptoms of a number of different bodily complaints and even reduce stress hormones when inhaled in oil form [2]. Avoid another caffeine crash and try a cup of chamomile tea when you feel stressed. Just holding your hands around a warm cup is comfort in itself.

Dark Chocolate:

Here’s the good news! No chocolate isn’t good for you but dark chocolate isn’t as bad as other kinds and it may help to reduce stress hormones in the body. Researchers gave a group of participants 40g of dark chocolate (74% cocoa and the equivalent of a small-size bar) every day for 2 weeks and found that their cortisol levels decreased. We’re not advocating eating chocolate every day but if you’re stressing out take a time-out with a small taste of dark chocolate. If nothing else it will at least be a tasty break from your stressful task.

Rye Bread:

Or any complex carbohydrates. One team of researchers fed people either a breakfast made up of complex carbohydrates like rye bread or a breakfast of simple carbohydrates including white bread. Those who had the former had lower levels of fatigue 3 hours later and were satiated for longer [3]. If you feel that toast and butter is the only thing that’s going to get you through this next deadline why not try wholewheat toast instead.

In the most recent stress and food news a group of researchers found that a bacteria called Bifidobacterium longum 1714 fed to participants over four-weeks reduced their levels of stress [4]. We might wait for further developments on this one though, Bifidobacterium longum 1714 doesn’t sound quite so appetizing as chocolate.

While these snacks may provide enough tasty distraction to get you over a short stressful hump it’s never a good idea to ignore chronic stress. There are many coping strategies out there from mindfulness to relaxation techniques that can help you to reduce stress. But if it’s just a short term pleasure boost you’re after try some of our healthy alternatives next time you’re reaching for the bag of crisps.

Oliver, G., J. Wardle, and E.L. Gibson, Stress and food choice: a laboratory study. Psychosomatic medicine, 2000. 62(6): p. 853-865.
Srivastava, J.K., E. Shankar, and S. Gupta, Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with a bright future (Review). Molecular medicine reports, 2010. 3(6): p. 895-901.
Pasman, W., et al., Effect of two breakfasts, different in carbohydrate composition, on hunger and satiety and mood in healthy men. International journal of obesity, 2003. 27(6): p. 663-668.
Allen, A, W Hutch, P Borre, P. J. Kennedy, A Temko, G Boylan, B Kiely, G Clarke, J.F. Cryan, T. G. Dinan. Towards psychobiotics for stress & cognition: Bifidobacterium Longum blocks stressinduced behavioural and physiology changes and modulates brain activity and neurocognitive performance in healthy human subjects. Program No. 162.05/R8. 2015 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2015. Online.

blog-title-stress-yellow-cloud-lightning

Your body’s reaction to stress -The HPA Axis

by The Pipon 22 January 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

You’re sitting in your office happily staring out the window when your computer pings. It’s a reminder you set yourself a month ago. Remember? That really important task your boss set you? No?

Well, it’s due today…

Your heart starts racing, the palms of your hands get sweaty and you feel far too hot. This is the feeling we all know too well as stress. But what actually happens in your body that can turn a simple thought such as “I forgot to do that task” into a heart-pounding physiological reaction?

Stress, Stress, Stress… Well here, we’ve outlined what steps happen to cause the unpleasant sensation of stress in the human body:

Evaluating the threat.

Every day our brains are bombarded with information from the different environments we are in, the people we meet and the thoughts we have. One of the most important jobs our brain has is to filter this information to figure out what is important and what is not. The lady pushing a pram on the other side of the road is not a particularly important signal for our brain but the car hurtling towards us at high speed is. Our brain evaluates the latter as a threat and we jump out of the way to avoid being hit. There are lots of parts of the brain that are involved in this process but the most important is called the amygdala. The amygdala is the Greek word for ‘almond’ because early anatomists thought part of it looked like an almond. When the amygdala detects something which is threatening it sends out alarm bells to the other parts of the brain that it is connected to telling them to be ready to respond.

Sending out the Army.

The amygdala sends a message to another part of the brain called the hypothalamus which sends a message further down in the brain to the pituitary gland which then sends a message all the way down to the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys. This is called the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal axis or the HPA axis. When the signal gets to the adrenal glands they release two types of hormones: adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline underpins our ‘fight or flight’ response by constricting blood vessels and making the heart pump faster to rush blood to the body and brain. This means our muscles are primed to run away or to stay and fight. It’s probably not the best solution to just run away from your boss when s/he comes to collect your work or, in fact, to fight them, but it would be a useful response if, for example, you came across a tiger in the jungle. Cortisol is the other stress hormone which is released by the adrenal glands in times of stress – this stops the body doing anything which isn’t necessary, such as digesting your lunch, leaving you ready to put all of your resources into dealing with the threat.
Returning to normal.

You tell your boss that you haven’t yet completed the task, s/he understands and gives you another week. Now that the threat is over your stress response system can calm back down. A signal is sent back through all the levels of the brain telling it to switch off the HPA axis. The adrenal glands stop producing cortisol and adrenaline which means heart rate returns to normal, you cool down and your stomach can start digesting your lunch again [1, 2].

Acute vs Chronic Stress.

The situation above is an example of acute stress. It’s short-lived and quickly resolved. Acute stress can actually be good for us as it sharpens our attention and helps us to perform better, whether that’s running away from a tiger or coming up with some good suggestions in a work meeting [3].

Say, however, you got a reminder every day about a task that you had forgotten to do in work or say your work was piling up so much that you were constantly feeling stressed out all of the time. This is called chronic stress. The HPA axis is a healthy response to short bursts of stress but if we are constantly stressed then our HPA axis is telling the body to increase blood pressure and suppress functions like digestion all of the time. Chronic stress can therefore have damaging effects on health [4]. This is why it’s so important to learn to manage stress.

The good news is that lots of stress management programmes including mindfulness have been found not just to stop you from feeling stressed in your head but also to stop your body’s stress responses from over-activating [5, 6].

So don’t ignore the signals. Managing your stress is not important just for your head but also for your body.

Next in the blog – Understanding your Pip Statistics

Check out our other blog posts on dealing with stress and see how the Pip can help you kickstart a life in control.

Smith, S.M. and W.W. Vale, The role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in neuroendocrine responses to stress. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 2006. 8(4): p. 383.
Herman, J.P. and W.E. Cullinan, Neurocircuitry of stress: central control of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenocortical axis. Trends in neurosciences, 1997. 20(2): p. 78-84.
Schilling, T.M., et al., For whom the bell (curve) tolls: Cortisol rapidly affects memory retrieval by an inverted U-shaped dose–response relationship. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2013. 38(9): p. 1565-1572.
Miller, G.E., E. Chen, and E.S. Zhou, If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans. Psychological bulletin, 2007. 133(1): p. 25.
Hammerfald, K., et al., Persistent effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management on cortisol responses to acute stress in healthy subjects—a randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2006. 31(3): p. 333-339.
Matousek, R.H., P.L. Dobkin, and J. Pruessner, Cortisol as a marker for improvement in mindfulness-based stress reduction. Complementary therapies in clinical practice, 2010. 16(1): p. 13-19.

Author: The Pip

Introducing, for a limited time only – The PIP in dark and white chocolate!

Chamomile tea:

Dark Chocolate:

Rye Bread:

Stress, Stress, Stress… Well here, we’ve outlined what steps happen to cause the unpleasant sensation of stress in the human body:

Evaluating the threat.

Sending out the Army.

Returning to normal.

Acute vs Chronic Stress.

So don’t ignore the signals. Managing your stress is not important just for your head but also for your body.

Next in the blog – Understanding your Pip Statistics

Check out our other blog posts on dealing with stress and see how the Pip can help you kickstart a life in control.

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