mental well being

Calm raises $75 million, expands into corporate mental health and wellness

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Calm Med­i­ta­tion App Hits $2 Bil­lion Val­ue With Light­speed, Gold­man Back­ing (Bloomberg News):

Calm, mak­er of a med­i­ta­tion, sleep and relax­ation app, dou­bled its val­u­a­tion to $2 bil­lion after rais­ing cap­i­tal from exist­ing back­ers includ­ing Light­speed Ven­ture Part­ners, TPG and Insight Part­ners. [Read more…] about Calm rais­es $75 mil­lion, expands into cor­po­rate men­tal health and wellness

To call, or to text, that is the (mental well-being) question

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Like most peo­ple, I’ve been doing a lot of tex­ting with friends and fam­i­ly late­ly. COVID-19 (and the phys­i­cal sep­a­ra­tion it neces­si­tates) has made social­iz­ing in per­son very lim­it­ed, which means I’ve had to work hard­er than ever to keep my rela­tion­ships strong and healthy.

But a new study sug­gests that if that’s my aim, tex­ting may not be enough. [Read more…] about To call, or to text, that is the (men­tal well-being) question

How feeling awe in nature can spur mental well-being and personal growth

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You might enjoy ski­ing or hik­ing. But do you feel at home in the moun­tains? Do you feel con­nect­ed to the wilder­ness? Accord­ing to a new study, that sense of being “home” in nature could be linked to your life sat­is­fac­tion and per­son­al growth, at least for young peo­ple. Anoth­er new study of old­er peo­ple finds that a con­nec­tion to nature seems to make them hap­pi­er and more will­ing to help others.

In the first study [Read more…] about How feel­ing awe in nature can spur men­tal well-being and per­son­al growth

Volunteering can not only strengthen your community but boost your mental well-being by the equivalent of $1,100

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The coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic has led to the prac­tice of social dis­tanc­ing, cre­at­ing feel­ings of stress and iso­la­tion in many of us. Some groups have been hit par­tic­u­lar­ly hard, includ­ing the elder­ly, par­ents jug­gling work and child care, and peo­ple who have lost their jobs. Against this back­drop, many peo­ple have turned to vol­un­teer­ing to help make a dif­fer­ence, even at a distance.

New research sug­gests that vol­un­teers aren’t just help­ing the com­mu­ni­ties they serve. Peo­ple who vol­un­teer actu­al­ly expe­ri­ence a boost in their men­tal health—good news at a time when [Read more…] about Vol­un­teer­ing can not only strength­en your com­mu­ni­ty but boost your men­tal well-being by the equiv­a­lent of $1,100

Move, Nourish, Connect, Be: Four daily habits to protect our mental well-being while sheltering in place

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It’s a crazy time. Here in the Cal­i­for­nia, we are shel­ter­ing-in-place, leav­ing the house only for essen­tials like gro­ceries and med­ical care. And while we’re all (appro­pri­ate­ly) focused on car­ing for the phys­i­cal health of our­selves, our fam­i­lies, our com­mu­ni­ties, and soci­ety at large, our men­tal, emo­tion­al, and social health needs are quick­ly emerg­ing as pro­found­ly impor­tant, as well. [Read more…] about Move, Nour­ish, Con­nect, Be: Four dai­ly habits to pro­tect our men­tal well-being while shel­ter­ing in place

Latest brain research, tools and teasers to think outside the mental health status quo box

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Time for a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing a range of  research find­ings, resources, brain teasers and rid­dles to help trans­late emerg­ing neu­ro­science into real-world appli­ca­tions and improve our col­lec­tive brain & men­tal health.

New thinking:

New research:

New tools:

Fun brain teasers:

 

Have a great month of March,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team