Stress is a major problem in our society and, partly due to the COVID-19 crisis, more and more people are suffering from it. Working from home and fewer activities outside the home are reducing the opportunities to get out and relax. Is there a way to use virtual reality to combat stress? This is the central question to the research of Miguel Barreda Ángeles, communication scientist at VU Amsterdam.
Place your smartphone in a pouch on your belly so it can measure your breathing. Put on the VR goggles and find yourself in an animated environment, on a beach, with a purple-orange sky. In front of you is a campfire, lanterns are hanging in the trees. The light of the campfire and the lanterns move in the rhythm of your breathing. Focus on your breathing, enjoy the view and... relax.
Miguel Barreda, together with Lars Lischke supervised this project, in which master students Kai Obendrauf and Elena Maan designed the prototype for this VR experience. Barreda: “We explored the use of VR to help people manage their stress and to learn how to better relax. By looking at the breathing and adjusting the lights accordingly, we can use this feedback to be more aware of what is going on in your body that helps with relaxing.”
A small group of participants used this application for a few weeks, both with a VR headset and via desktop. After using both, the subjects were more relaxed, and most preferred the use of the VR headset to the desktop version. Miguel Barreda would like to continue this research with more participants in the future and further develop the application.
Watch what you see through the VR headset here.
