Category: Science Talks

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How VR can transform the health care system

There are several voices calling for a drastic change in the healthcare system, especially after Covid-19. Patients found themselves amidst chaos, where everyone had to be calm and organized under the most difficult situations. From that point onward, trust in health care systems was partially lost and new, more patient-friendly methods are called for. We know this, firsthand, as several healthcare organizations turned to us for the virtual care of patients, especially those at home.

A very interesting article recently written, we see exactly the what and the why technology in healthcare is becoming a must. We read:

“Encourage the adoption of technologies that engage and serve patients by making health care more convenient and more connected such as telehealth, remote monitoring, and digital diagnostic tools. These types of technologies have been shown to increase access to care while also making care more continuous and less episodic.

Much of the conversation around telehealth is focused on simply making care more accessible and convenient for patients who have grown used to the ease of meal delivery and ride-sharing apps. But the telehealth spectrum is much broader than that. With technology, we can rapidly and seamlessly move wisdom and expertise, not people, and that can significantly improve care delivery as well as patient engagement to improve outcomes.

For example, in helping recovered heart attack patients, Kaiser Permanente’s virtual cardiac rehabilitation program allows care teams to use an app coupled with a digital watch to monitor the progress of these patients with exercise, tasks, medications, and heart metrics. Patients enrolled in the program were nearly twice as likely to complete the recommended course of rehabilitation than those in traditional face-to-face interactions.”

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Employer support has a direct impact on the health and resilience of employees, according to a Mercer survey

  • The pandemic has had a material impact on the mental, financial and physical health of employees.

    • Over half of US employees report feeling some level of stress in the last year, nearly one fourth say they experienced mental health issues such as depression or anxiety, a fifth are financially worse off, and nearly a fifth feel less physically healthy or fit.
  • However, 53% of employees feel their employer has provided good support during the pandemic – and, compared to those who have received little support, they are less likely to have experienced the pandemic’s impact as mostly or entirely negative. 
  • 45% of employees who feel they have received good support from their employers during the pandemic say they are less likely to leave their company as a result. New York, September 13 – As the pandemic continues to unfold, the ability of employers to have a positive impact on employee health and resiliency cannot be understated and is one of the most important findings of the latest Mercer “Health on Demand” survey released today. Since the onset of COVID-19, when employers stepped up to provide essential support, it made a difference.  Employees who say they received good support from their employers are much less likely to view their personal experience of the pandemic as mostly or entirely negative compared to those who received little or no support – 25% vs. 49%.  And almost half (45%) of those receiving good support say they are less likely to leave their job as a result.Survey results confirm that the pandemic has had a material impact on the mental, physical and financial health of employees. Over half of US employees feel some level of stress in the last year; nearly a fourth of US employees say they experienced mental health issues such as depression or anxiety; a fifth are financially worse off; and nearly a fifth feel less physically healthy or fit. Low-wage earners were more likely to experience each of these negative impacts – and less likely to feel supported by their employers during the pandemic.  These findings reinforce that employers have room for improvement when it comes to understanding the diverse needs of their employees and providing resources to support the well-being of the entire workforce.

    “There is nothing more important to the health of a business than the health of its people and the communities in which that business operates. COVID-19 challenged our global healthcare system, but the ability of employers to have a positive impact on employee health and resiliency is one of the most important findings from our 2021 Health on Demand survey,” said Martine Ferland, President and CEO, Mercer. “The research is clear – employers that place health and humanity at the center of business transformation will build a more energized and adaptable workforce that is better able to persevere through periods of crisis.”

    The 2021 report lays out several key findings and implications for supporting employee health and well-being:

    Provide varied and valued benefits: Well-being is at the core of an employee’s relationship with their employer. The amount of support, type of support, and ability to personalize that support matters. The ability to customize a package of benefits to meet individual needs is highly or extremely valued by 55% of employees. Variety matters as well: the more benefits and resources that are offered, the more likely it is that each employee finds something of value.  Of employees offered 10 or more health and well-being benefits or resources by their employer, 52% say that their benefits are a reason to stay with their company, compared to only 32% of those offered 1-5 benefits or resources. In addition, employees receiving 10 or more benefits are more confident that they can afford the healthcare they need – and more likely to agree that their employer cares about their health and well-being.

    Enable digital access to healthcare: COVID-19 necessitated that healthcare be delivered indifferent and innovative ways. One-fifth of employees used telemedicine for the first time during the pandemic, and another 23% increased their usage. Of those trying telemedicine for the first time, the great majority – 72% – intend to keep using it.  The survey also registered a sharp increase in employee interest in other digital health solutions, ranging from apps that help find healthcare providers to virtual reality tools for self-care.  Compared to the 2019 Health on Demand survey, a greater percentage of employees in the 2021 survey found digital solutions to be highly or extremely valuable. The ability to access care virtually has gained momentum and become a valued option for employees. Survey results reinforce that employers need to plan for a future in which most healthcare journeys include virtual visits and digital healthcare supports.
    Reduce stress and anxiety: Notably, US employees are more stressed than those in many other countries. While 59% of US employees say they feel some level of stress, one-quarter report being highly or extremely stressed. That’s the highest percentage of the 13 countries included in the survey.  In the UK, for example, only 16% of employees feel highly or extremely stressed.  With 48% of US employees rating employer support for mental health as highly or extremely valuable, employers that provide robust mental health and counselling benefits will foster greater loyalty and create a stronger bond with their employees.  However, 40% of employees say it is difficult to find and access quality mental health care.  It’s even harder for some employees: among low wage earners, that number rises to 47%.  Employees identifying as LGBTQ+ place the highest value on employer support for mental health – 61% say it is highly or extremely valuable, but nearly as many (58%) say quality mental health care is difficult to find and access.
    Clearly, employees have unmet needs when it comes to mental health care. Half (49%) of all US employees say that programs that reduce the cost of mental health treatment are highly or extremely valuable.  Employers looking to provide affordable mental health care support should note that many employees would highly value virtual counselling via video chat with a therapist (42%), virtual counselling via text with a therapist (38%), and even virtual mental health advice via AI-powered text chats, with no human involved (31%).

    Tackle healthcare inequities: Healthcare inequality persists, with higher-earners better able to access medical coverage, income protection and mental health counselling than low-earners. Participants with household income (HHI) at or below the US median are significantly less likely to feel confident they can afford the healthcare their family needs (60%) than those with HHI above the median (83%).
    Unfortunately, the people who need support the most are the least likely to receive it. Those with HHI above the median reported having better access to benefits through their employers: the survey revealed a gap of 21 percentage points in access to employer-sponsored medical coverage between those with HHI at or below the median and those with HHI above the median and a 19-point gap in access to life insurance.   Employers should consider a strategy that targets benefits to the groups that need them most. In a time of labor shortages, a strategy for achieving greater equity may also give employers a competitive advantage.
    “Every good leader knows that when employees feel they are treated well they are more likely to stay, be engaged, and flourish,” said Kate Brown, Mercer’s Center for Health Innovation Leader, “With significant shifts in attitudes towards mental health, sustainability and digital healthcare over the last year, employers must evolve their health strategy to reflect a modern workforce that prioritizes flexibility, choice, a caring culture, and digital access to support their health and well-being.”

    About the survey

     The 2021 Mercer Health on Demand survey asked 14,000 employees across 13 countries across the globe about what they want when it comes to their health and well-being. Country and regional results were weighted to the true sample, with 2,000 in the US. The resulting report captures the voice of the employee to inform debate about employee health and wellbeing preferences, digital delivery of benefits, inclusive and environmentally-friendly solutions that meet ESG agendas and mental health solutions.

    Source: https://www.mercer.com/newsroom/2021-health-on-demand-survey-released.html

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Does the war in Ukraine impact your productivity?

The short answer is yes.

As we have already discussed in a previous blog post, the Covid-19 pandemic raised an unprecedented wave of burnout and emotional instability symptoms as a response to the loss of control and insecurity. As the world around us is changing, we need to find new anchors that will redefine our ruined safe zone. The war in Ukraine intensified these feelings and, now, more than ever, the impact on employees’ productivity is obvious; lack of concentration, irritability, a cynical approach to goals etc. Insecurity is promoted to a business problem.

There is a vivid discussion amongst managers on how to cope with this new status before it explodes. And, there is a consensus for a two tiers approach:

  1. The new new leader

Transformational leadership is the best approach for turbulent times: managers need to be empathetic, flexible and humane so that their team members will feel safe to express their feelings and fears. There is no room for “This is not my problem” behaviours, as distancing from employees becomes a source of extra insecurity. The empathetic leader is open to new working conditions- eg WFH- allows some personal space or/and time off for psychological issues, remains patient and approachable. And, what is now a new tool in the toolbox, managers can encourage their team members to care for their mental health, through discussion, visitations to consultants and mindfulness.

2. The employee

On the other hand, employees need to acknowledge the challenge and try to focus on its source. Psychologists insist that throughout our lives we strive for this sense of control- from the first day of our existence as humankind. We have been trying to rationalize natural phenomena, we built huge buildings to come closer to God, we make decisions that secure the boundaries of our safe zones. And yet, lately, two devastating events shook all our beliefs. The pandemic made “healthy” our salient identity and the war underlined how fragile our world is. What we need is something we can lean on and this is always found within ourselves.

Here comes mindfulness, as the solution to these urgent problems. Either as employees or as individuals, now we need to create some space between the world out there and the world inside us. Our thoughts are just thoughts, they do not determine our lives. Our emotions will go away if we sit with them. These techniques seem easy- in fact, they are- but guidance is called for.

We, hence, understand why Solas VR mindfulness app becomes every day more popular amongst corporations as the solution to keep employees close to the team yet working on their inner balance is now a strategic goal.

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Virtual Reality and the COVID Mental Health Crisis

Depression and anxiety have risen amid the pandemic; immersive therapeutics can help

Article written by Brennan Spiegel for Scientific American.

I am being challenged daily. As a frontline doctor, I find that the COVID-19 pandemic has not only tested my clinical abilities but also strained my capacity to bear witness to grievous suffering. This suffering extends well beyond the physical distress of hospitalized patients battling the virus. The pandemic has also spawned a mental health crisis beyond anything I have seen in 25 years of caring for patients. The statistics are overwhelming: CDC research indicates that 31 percent of Americans have reported anxiety and depression during the pandemic, and 11 percent have considered suicide. A national shortage in mental health clinicians existed before COVID-19. Now, health care organizations must decide how to rapidly scale and deploy behavioral health care to a geographically widespread and increasingly isolated populace. There is no time to wait for expansion of the mental health workforce.

Doctors are now turning to an unlikely solution: virtual reality (VR). When most people think of VR, they think of a gaming technology—a toy for pent-up teens to play first-person shooter games in their parents’ basement. But for decades, scientists around the world have been quietly discovering the surprising health benefits of VR for ailments ranging from severe pain, to PTSD, to substance use, to existential anxiety. Over 5,000 studies reveal that VR has an uncanny ability to diminish pain, steady nerves, and boost mental health—and best of all, it can be administered at home without a trained clinician.

VR works by creating a sense of psychological presence. When VR scientists speak of presence, they mean the technology has a unique ability to convey a sense of just “being there,” wherever there happens to be. It might be relaxing by the ocean or soaring in a hang glider or swimming with dolphins without leaving their couch. VR can even cause people to think and feel like another person altogether. For example, using a headset can enable people with depression to assume the body of Sigmund Freud and engage in self-counseling through his persona, allow people with eating disorders to experience life by way of a healthy avatar, and teleport people outside their own body so that they may gain new insights about the nature of dying. In all of these cases, if the VR is any good, the user feels transported to a new virtual environment and temporarily accepts it as reality. When used in the right way, at the right time and with the right patient, these virtual journeys can change mind and body for the better, all from the comfort of home.

Until recently, VR technology has been too expensive, unreliable and unwieldy for doctors to prescribe home-based virtual therapeutics. Now that’s all changed, and the timing couldn’t be better given the mental health crisis of COVID-19. In the past five years, multinational companies, including Facebook, Google, HP and others, have invested billions of dollars into developing and expanding the VR industry. As a result, explosive advances have been made in delivering low-cost, portable and high-quality VR to the masses. We have now reached an inflection point where the technology is cheap enough, its quality good enough and the science voluminous enough to think seriously about leveraging VR to improve mental health at scale with home-based treatments.

My lab at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and others like it, has been on a journey to study whether and how VR can improve mental health. We created one of the largest medical VR programs in the world and have now treated several thousand patients with immersive therapeutics. In my book, VRx, I reveal how our team is using VR in the emergency department for helping patients with panic attacks, treating women in labor who are seeking to avoid an epidural, and managing patients with painful injuries. I discuss the research on how VR can treat irritable bowel syndrome, support stroke rehabilitation, steady tremors, manage schizophrenia and engage patients with dementia.

But it was the COVID-19 pandemic more than anything that has pushed us to move VR outside the walls of the hospital and into the community. Now, with the help of research funding from the National Institutes of Health, our team is shipping VR headsets directly to patients where they can receive mind-body treatments in vibrant, three-dimensional worlds—all in the privacy of their home and without the need for a live visit. Instead of prescribing another pill through a traditional in-person session, we might recommend a virtual beach vacation at home to ease aches and pains, or prescribe a course of cognitive behavioral therapy for people suffering from anxiety or depression.

In one program, called EaseVR, patients with chronic pain learn to control their mind and body through VR biofeedback therapy in a whimsical forest of glowing trees beside a shimmering lake. As the patient breathes in and out in sync with beating drums, the microphone in the headset detects the respirations and uses the input to drive a metaphorical visual narrative, allowing the user to breathe life into a dying tree or cause the sky to brighten a lustrous shade of blue. Virtual trees expand and contract in rhythm with breathing, like a huge arboreal lung exchanging air in sync with the patients’ body. Evidence shows this type of therapy not only helps in the short term, but can also alleviate pain, anxiety and depression well after the immediate treatment is over.

VR does all this by radically changing our perspective of the world. We can imagine being somewhere fantastical and healing. We can practice being the person we want to become. We can see ourselves from beyond and regard ourselves in a new light. We can empathize with ourselves and with others. We can confront our inner voice. We can transform our minds drastically and immediately, and when effective, forge healthy cognitions that last long after the headsets are removed.

VR is not just for gamers anymore. It is a new type of mental health treatment that can make things easier when times are hard.

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Science Talks: The benefits of Microbreaks

microbreaks

Do you know what is a microbreak?

It is a short break you take from work (or anything that calls for your unhindered attention) in order to help your mind refresh, hence perform better.

Working for many hours straight, without any break or at least some stretching doesn’t signal a hard-working professional. On the contrary, there is academic proof now that our brain ceases to focus after a while, so we stop being productive or creative.

Do you know what the Troxler effect is? Try to pay continual attention to a non-moving object. In about 20 seconds you will be surprised to realize that the object has “disappeared” from your view. This is how our brain responds to intense focus- and how it can filter reality by the way. The work of University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras supported though that the Troxler effect can occur when we focus on any cognitive item. In other words, if you pay many hours thinking about a problem or a project you mind starts losing focus and after a while you stop being intuitive or critical. After some point, you brain just stops being productive. But, if you take a short break and you allow your mind to let go of the project and engage to anything else, then when you return your interest and focus ability are refreshed and restarted.

We used to believe that these microbreaks could be a quick lunch, a short work, any other type of cognitive process, or whatever works for each one. But another research tested the effect of different types of microbreaks- lunch, relaxation, cognitive tasks, social activities- on the relationship between work demands and negative affect. What they found is that performance actually increases only after microbreaks including relaxation or social activities- nutrition intakes, with the exception of caffeinated products or cognitive tasks actually aggravate the negative effect. Additionally, a Stanford University research stresses the importance of letting our eyes wander for a while during the microbreaks.

When we put all these scientific findings together, we build a strong case for the benefits of the Solas VR meditations as micro-break activities. The VR experience triggers the mind to react like we really are in nature, while the eyes wander among trees and rivers, while at the office. The guided meditation allows the brain to relax and let any thought go, so when you take your VR headset off, you find yourself refreshed, with a new interest and viewpoint in the task you have been working at.

Download From Oculus Store

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10 Mindfulness Researchers You Should Know

Since the early 2000s, research on mindfulness has been expanding rapidly. Here’s a look at 10 leaders in the field, what their research has shown us, and the future directions their studies are taking.

1) JUDSON BREWER, MD, PHD

Psychiatrist and Chief, Division of Mindfulness; associate professor, Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry; research director, Center for Mindfulness, UMASS Medical School

Known For:
Discovering how mindfulness can undercut addiction; using neuroimaging techniques to reveal how mindfulness affects the brain; developing mindfulness tools to help people quit smoking and handle food cravings.

Future Directions:
Examining the effects of mindfulness programs delivered via digital means. “This is the next generation of mindfulness delivery,” he says. “We want to carefully study how it works.” His team has created an app, “Unwinding Anxiety,” which he plans to study in future clinical trials.

2) DAVID CRESWELL, PHD

Associate professor of psychology, Carnegie Mellon University

Known For:
Examining what makes people resilient under stress and cofounding health neuroscience, which combines health psychology and neuroscience.

Future Directions:
He has begun a randomized controlled trial looking at how Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction may improve social relationships and healthy aging in older adults. In other trials, his team is examining whether adding acceptance and equanimity skills to mindfulness training can reduce stress and improve health.

3) LARISSA DUNCAN, PHD

Elizabeth C. Davies Chair in Child & Family Well-Being and associate professor of human development and family studies at the School of Human Ecology and the Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Known For:
Developing ways to promote and assess mindful parenting; bringing mindfulness and compassion training to pregnant women, children, adolescents, and families.

Future Directions:
She’s planning a study to test how Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting affects mothers’ mental health, stress physiology, and well-being, and infants’ behavioral, biological, and neurological development. She’s also partnering with mindfulness experts of color, seeking ways to make mindfulness more widely accessible and culturally relevant.

4) ELISSA EPEL, PHD

Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine

Known For:
Groundbreaking work linking severe stress with shortened telomeres, cellular structures that play a key role in aging and disease. Her mindfulness research has focused on examining the benefits of meditation for people experiencing chronic stress and without previous meditation experience.

Future Directions:
Taking a closer look at how meditation affects people who’ve suffered adversity in childhood. “They tend to have certain patterns of thought that are ideal targets for meditation training,” Epel says.

5) PATRICIA JENNINGS, PHD

Associate professor of education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia

Known For:
Innovative research on mindfulness in education. She recently published a randomized controlled trial showing that a mindfulness-based professional development program for teachers, CARE for Teachers, reduces teacher stress and improves classroom interactions.

Future Directions:
She’s conducting a randomized controlled trial of the Compassionate Schools Project. It aims to promote focus, resilience, empathy, and well-being by teaching mindfulness, contemplative movement, and social/emotional skills to students at 50 Louisville elementary schools.

6) AMISHI JHA, PHD

Neuroscientist, associate professor of psychology, founder and head of the Jha Lab, University of Miami

Known For:
Pioneering work, much of it funded by the Department of Defense—carried out with military, students, and athletes, showing mindfulness can protect attention and working memory and examining how to scale up mindfulness training for larger populations and make its effects long lasting.

Future Directions:
Adding compassion training to mindfulness techniques to study how the blend affects prosocial behavior and peer- to-peer support. “We’re looking for best training delivery practices; e.g., how to achieve and sustain maximum benefits with lowest time demands. Accessible training is key for broad adoption by high-performance and high-demand groups,” Jha says.

7) SARA LAZAR, PHD

Associate researcher in psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital; assistant professor in psychology, Harvard Medical School

Known For:
Studying the neuroscience of yoga and meditation. Her research has indicated that meditation may produce structural changes in the brain and slow aging-related brain atrophy.

Future Directions:
She’s beginning a study among adults with no previous meditation experience, testing whether mindfulness training can enhance and preserve memory.

8) MICHAEL MRAZEK, PHD

Director of research, Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara

Known For:
Finding ways to increase the effectiveness of mindfulness training, particularly in K-12 school settings.

Future Directions:
Over the next three years, he will be conducting a series of US Department of Education-funded studies to discover the best ways to teach mindfulness to high school students.

9) CLIFFORD SARON, PHD

Researcher, neuroscientist, Center for Mind and Brain; director of the Saron Lab, University of California, Davis

Known For:
Directing the Shamatha Project, a multiyear investigation of long-term intensive meditation (in the form of a three-month retreat). Findings so far are that the practice sharpens and sustains attention, enhances well-being and empathy, and improves physiological markers of health.

Future Directions:
Examining psychological well-being among Shamatha Project participants seven years after the initial retreat. And among participants in one-month meditation retreats, Saron is examining biomarkers of cellular aging, stress, and inflammation.

10) ZINDEL SEGAL, PHD

Professor of brain and therapeutics, University of Toronto–Scarborough

Known For:
Being a founder of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which integrates meditation into psychotherapy. A leading researcher on mindfulness and mood disorders, he has shown that MBCT can prevent relapses in people with depression.

Future Directions:
Segal is conducting a study at a large HMO examining whether adding a digital form of MBCT to standard depression care can reduce symptoms. Another study in progress examines neural changes, over a two-year period, in patients who have used MBCT and recovered from depression.

 

Source: Mindful Magazine

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Science Talks: VR as a treatment method

VR in treatment

There is compelling evidence that Virtual Reality (VR) impacts our brain’s sensors in a unique way that, in terms of response, it resembles the “real thing”. It is no surprise that academics and psychology researchers have conducted experiments to explore, in vivo, the power of VR as a treatment method. From 2012 to 2015, 24 controlled trials have been conducted to evaluate the potential applications of VR in what is now called VRT (Virtual Reality in psychological Treatment). The findings unveil the huge potential of VR in a wide range of psychological cases, from panic attacks and anxiety to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

The common ground between treating severe psychological conditions and using VR for mindfulness is the way Virtual Reality is limiting distractions from the real world, increasing sense of presence and giving people an interesting place to go to practice mindfulness, according to a recent study. In other words, individuals enjoy VR meditations more and they are motivated to stay consistent with their practice, while the mind gets an intense, transformational experience, like “really being there”. This new reality sets off the relaxation mechanisms that allow us to be more receptive, and even to revisit old incidents and/or beliefs that have shaped us.

This new stream of thought has jumped from academia to popular websites and magazines (eg Forbes, Cnet etc) as the evolution of mindfulness apps as we know them.  It is getting cleared every day that Virtual Reality opens the gate to a whole new world, where we can be more present, calmer and healthier. Enter for free, here or :

Download From Oculus Store

Further Reading:

  • Meditation experts try Virtual Reality Mindfulness: A pilot study evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of Virtual Reality to facilitate mindfulness practice in people attending a Mindfulness conference. – https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0187777
  • RealWorld: Neuroadaptive and Immersive Virtual Reality Meditation System- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301635964_RelaWorld_Neuroadaptive_and_Immersive_Virtual_Reality_Meditation_System
  • Virtual Reality and Anxiety Disorders Treatment: Evolution and Future Perspectives- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-9482-3_3
  • Virtual Reality Applications to Treat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder- https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-9482-3_4
  • Virtual reality in the psychological treatment for mental health problems: An systematic review of recent evidence- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178116300257
  • VR Meditation: The Path To Next-Gen Health & Happiness- https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2019/03/28/vr-meditation-the-path-to-next-gen-health-happiness/#421864b62ff4
  • Meditation in VR: Virtually mindful- https://www.cnet.com/news/virtually-mindful/
  • Virtual Reality Therapy: A Therapeutic Use Of Technology- https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/therapy/virtual-reality-therapy-a-therapeutic-use-of-technology/
  • How Virtual Reality Meditation Helps Me Control My Anxiety- https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/meditation-virtual-reality#1