PipLife Archives | Page 6 of 8 | Pip Pip

Meet a school using Pip in the Classroom

by The Pipon 5 July 2016in Case Study, PipLife, PipSchools, PipUse

McFarland School District in Wisconsin, US, have been using Pip with great success to assist students learn to better manage stress. They have found the Pip particularly useful to help students identify what helps them calm down and learn to self-regulate.

Their Special Education teacher, Colleen has been using the Pip with students since November 2015 and has seen very promising results with her students.

‘The Pip is particularly useful to help students know what helps them calm down by trying different strategies when they are calm and not in distress. It allows students to use whatever strategy they think works for them. Then if their Pip score disagrees, there is not a power struggle to move on to a different calming strategy.

She also noted that she ‘also found when a student is too upset to talk, they can hold the pip, watch the app, and be aware of their own stress levels.’

Colleen’s students also agree and have found using the Pip an enjoyable, and educating, experience

“I love it because it can track my stress. It helps me figure out how to calm down.” 5th Grade student

“The Pip really helps you calm down when you are really mad and frustrated. I like the music and the changes to the Enchanted Forest in the Loom app.” 5th Grade student

Kim,the school’s Assistive Technology Coordinator, said that

‘the Pip is very valuable for all our schools to help our students center themselves when they are not in a good place. Using Pip has helped our teachers develop some great strategies to help students be more self-aware of their emotional state and apply what they learn from the Pip data.

Interested in using the Pip in your school. Contact us to find out more about our Schools Wellness Programme.

How exercise reduces stress

by The Pipon 20 June 2016in PipLife

We all know exercise is good for you and most of us probably have great intentions of doing more than we currently do. More often than not, however, the idea of exercising at the end of stressful day is just not appealing. We would far rather curl up on the couch and watch TV than pull on exercise gear and venture outside. Yet in the long run exercise may help to build up resilience against stress.
Studies have shown that people who are more physically active are less prone to stress [1]. Research has even shown that children who are physically active have a less extreme biological reaction to stress compared to their peers who are not physically active [2].

But why is exercise good for stress? It certainly doesn’t feel like a stress relieving activity at times, particularly when your breath is ragged, your muscles hurt and the air outside is cold. We know that exercise can be good for stress but research is only just starting to find out why. In a recent study researchers in the Karolinska Institute in Sweden noted that a protein called PGC-1alpha1 builds up in the muscle when people exercise [3]. This protein can also clear out enzymes that travel from the blood to the brain and are associated with stress-induced depression. They therefore wondered if this protein may be part of the answer as to why exercise reduces stress. They took two groups of mice, one group with a high level of this protein in their muscles and one normal group. They then stressed them out by exposing them to noise and flashing lights, something that creates stress-induced depression in the animals. They found that the group with the high levels of PGC-1alpha1 protein did not become depressed with the added stress while the normal mice did. The exercise-related protein seemed to protect the mice from the effects of stress.

Of course more research needs to be done in humans to really understand the effects but it is one more step towards understanding how exercise affects stress and, maybe, one further step to getting us out the door to exercise at the end of a stressful day.

1. Schnohr, P., et al., Stress and life dissatisfaction are inversely associated with jogging and other types of physical activity in leisure time—The Copenhagen City Heart Study. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 2005. 15(2): p. 107-112.

2. Martikainen, S., et al., Higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis reactivity to psychosocial stress in children. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2013. 98(4): p. E619-E627.

3. Agudelo, L.Z., et al., Skeletal muscle PGC-1α1 modulates kynurenine metabolism and mediates resilience to stress-induced depression. Cell, 2014. 159(1): p. 33-45.

Could reconnecting with nature replenish your mind?

by The Pipon 8 June 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

Imagine the scene. You’re standing in a hidden forest on a brightly lit, warm Autumnal evening. The trees above you rustle from the gentle breeze and the leaves in brilliant reds, oranges and golds decoratively dot the soft ground beneath your feet. The air is crisp and you can hear songbirds gently singing over your head. Maybe there’s a river trickling nearby…

June Blog 2 - Why it's important to get out into the sun

Improve your mood & reduce stress with sunshine

by The Pipon 7 June 2016in PipLife

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
you make me happy when skies are grey”

… sang Jonathan Edwards in 1971. And he was right, sunshine does make us happy. When we think of sunshine we think of long carefree days lying on a beach, having a picnic in a park or merely waking up to golden rays of light seeping in between the curtains. Sunshine is good for us both psychologically and physically. For example, sunlight is an important source of vitamin D, a crucial vitamin that keeps bones healthy and teeth strong. Of course, like everything there is a middle ground between too much sunshine, too little sunshine and just the right amount.

Don’t feel guilty about taking a stress free vacation

by The Pipon 31 May 2016in PipLife

Most of us are allowed vacation days but sometimes there can be a sense of guilt associated with taking time off. U.S. workers only took 51% of the short time they were allowed off in 2014 [1]. Many were worried about falling behind, losing out on promotions or irritating colleagues. But this reasoning may be flawed. Research shows that not only are vacations good for you but they also increase productivity meaning they’re good for the workplace too. Here we give you three top reasons why you shouldn’t feel guilty about taking a vacation:

Stress , how can I help my child deal with it?

by The Pipon 27 April 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

All children Stress about things in their life.

The word ‘stress’ is seen as a negative word but actually stress can be good for us. Not only does it sharpen our thinking to help deal with challenges but periods of stress can teach us important coping and resilience strategies. The same is true for children. Small challenges, stresses or worries in a child’s life can help them, with support, to develop the coping mechanisms they will need to deal with bigger stresses later on. The important thing is to stop stress from becoming distress.

Stress Management Techniques for Kids

by The Pipon 30 March 2016in PipLife, Stress Explained

As hard as we try to let kids be kids it can sometimes be difficult to stop our own stresses seep into our interactions with children. Kids are highly attuned to emotions and can pick up on parental stress. In fact parental stress in early childhood is known to affect children both behaviourally and biologically [1]. The good news is that a few simple activities can help to reduce children’s stress.

Here we list 4:

Mindful Parenting – we’ve all heard about mindfulness and the benefits it has in our own lives but a new area of research is investigating mindful parenting. The aim of mindful parenting is to bring mindfulness techniques such as acceptance and in-the-moment awareness into interactions with children. The widespread benefit of this approach has yet to be validated with full randomized control trials but early results show some promising effects on improving relationships between parents and children and reducing risky behaviours in adolescents [2,3]. Many schools are also starting to introduce mindfulness programmes for children themselves.

Physical Activity – children who are physically active have less extreme responses to stress than their non-active peers, a recent study found [4]. If your child is stressed out or anxious sending them outside to kick a ball around or play chasing with their friends may be a good way to distract them in the short term and help them to build up resilience in the long term.

Play – play is particularly important for helping children to develop cognitively, socially and emotionally. A report on children’s play in 2007 suggested that in the modern world children can be over-scheduled for after-school activities leading in some cases to more stress [5]. Free play with friends can be equally important for reducing stress and building resilience. In addition, an intervention study found that mother-child play for 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week both reduced maternal stress and improved children’s cognitive development [6]. So if you find both yourself and your child are stressed out try some free play time to bring you both back to equilibrium.

Sleep – sleep is important for everyone but it is critical for children, whose brains are still growing and developing. A recent study found that children who had poor quality of sleep had greater stress responses than their peers [7]. Ensuring that your child has a good, stable sleep routine is an important way of helping their brains to develop properly and leave them able to face the challenges of growing up.

References

1. Essex, M.J., et al., Epigenetic vestiges of early developmental adversity: childhood stress exposure and DNA methylation in adolescence. Child Development, 2013. 84(1): p. 58-75.

2. Turpyn, C.C. and T.M. Chaplin, Mindful Parenting and Parents’ Emotion Expression: Effects on Adolescent Risk Behaviors. Mindfulness, 2015: p. 1-9.

3. Coatsworth, J.D., et al., Changing parent’s mindfulness, child management skills and relationship quality with their youth: Results from a randomized pilot intervention trial. Journal of child and family studies, 2010. 19(2): p. 203-217.

4. Martikainen, S., et al., Higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis reactivity to psychosocial stress in children. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2013. 98(4): p. E619-E627.

5. Milteer, R.M., et al., The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bond: Focus on children in poverty. Pediatrics, 2012. 129(1): p. e204-e213.

6. Tachibana, Y., et al., A new mother-child play activity program to decrease parenting stress and improve child cognitive abilities: A cluster randomized controlled trial. PloS one, 2012. 7(7): p. e38238.

7. Hatzinger, M., et al., Electroencephalographic sleep profiles and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA)-activity in kindergarten children: Early indication of poor sleep quality associated with increased cortisol secretion. Journal of psychiatric research, 2008. 42(7): p. 532-543.

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!

Learning to manage stress with Pip just got even better

by The Pipon 19 February 2016in PipLife

[tw_heading size="waves-shortcode" text="Be sure to update your Pip Apps because, as of today, your Pip experience is getting an upgrade." weight="400" style="normal" position="center"][/tw_heading]

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.

Category : PipLife

All children Stress about things in their life.

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

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