Mental health
How women can use technology to empower their mental health and happiness
By Talia Soen, founder and CEO at Happy Things
Technology is not just about convenience; it’s a potent tool for nurturing our mental health and happiness.
I’m 36 years old, and I spent most of my life feeling like I wasn’t happy enough. To my surprise, it didn’t matter what milestones I achieved throughout my life – completing my degree, securing my dream job, finding love, getting married. I accomplished these goals, yet happiness remained elusive.
This search has eventually led me to found my first company, Happy Things. Based on the science of positive psychology, Happy Things is trying to change the paradigm that happiness is a goal to be achieved.
With the Happy Things app, we’re trying to teach users that happiness is a skill, learned and honed through simple, daily habits.
In this journey of building Happy Things, me and my team – we’re all women, by the way – went through it all: pregnancies, fertility treatments, and of course, “just” dealing with our periods.
During that time, something clicked. As women, life events, as well as physical, biological and hormonal changes affect our mental health. So how come most mental health solutions available out there don’t address our unique needs and experience?
As women, we should be taking into account all the different components that make up who we are. While there is a lot of information out there, we still have to do most of the work ourselves; learn more about the connection between our bodies and our mental health, develop healthy habits that work for us; empower ourselves to change the happiness paradigm. Technology can help us do that.
Mind-body connection: menstrual cycles and mental wellness
One area where technology is making remarkable strides is in helping women understand and embrace the changes that come with their menstrual cycles.
Menstrual cycle tracking apps, for example, offer a profound understanding of the intricate relationship between a woman’s body and her mental well-being. These apps empower women to record physical and emotional changes throughout their cycle.
Tracking enables women to make informed self-care decisions. During the menstrual phase, rest and self-compassion can alleviate mood swings, while the ovulatory phase, characterised by high energy, is ideal for physical activities.
Aligning routines with these insights fosters harmony between body and mind, enhancing mental wellbeing. In a hectic world, tracking apps help women reconnect with their bodies, prioritise self-care, and nurture their mental health.
The habit loop: how tech can help us create better habits
At the core of wellness and happiness lies the formation of positive habits. Habits are the small, consistent actions we take daily that shape our lives. Whether it’s practicing mindfulness, maintaining a balanced diet, or getting regular exercise, these habits have a profound impact on our mental and physical health.
Yet, new habits are hard to acquire, and even harder to sustain. Imagine this: your smartphone becomes a wellness coach, guiding you toward healthier habits. It offers reminders for your daily meditation practice, tracks your nutrition, and monitors your sleep patterns.
Through wearable devices, you gain real-time insights into your physical activity and stress levels. These tools turn abstract wellness goals into tangible actions.
Practical tips to build wellness habits with technology
Tracking: Apps like Happy Things, the Apple Health Kit, or period tracking apps offer habit-tracking features that can help you monitor your daily wellness routines and celebrate your achievements, no matter how small.
Notifications and reminders: Leverage technology to set reminders for your wellness habits. Whether it’s a morning meditation session or a midday mood check, automated reminders keep you on track.
Mindfulness apps: Explore mindfulness and meditation apps that guide you through relaxation exercises, deep breathing, and mindfulness practices. These can become daily habits that enhance your mental wellness.
Community support: Many wellness apps offer community features where you can connect with like-minded individuals. Joining a supportive community can reinforce your commitment to wellness habits.
The future of mental health tech: personalised wellness
In the world of femtech, where innovation meets the unique needs of women’s health, one key area that often remains unexplored is the profound connection between mental wellness and our bodies.
As we navigate the intricacies of our menstrual cycles, fertility journeys, and life events, there’s an opportunity to leverage technology not only to track and manage these aspects but also to build healthier habits that enhance our overall wellness and happiness.
One of the most exciting aspects of where the wellness industry is currently going is personalisation. New developments unlock the potential for more personalised tech products than ever before, products that almost… understand you, and therefore, provide you with the most useful assistance for your journey.
At Happy Things, for example, we believe that personalisation should take into account the unique needs and experiences of women because our vision is to make happiness a skill that every woman can cultivate.
Technology is not just about convenience; it’s a potent tool for nurturing our mental health and happiness.
By tapping into the wisdom of positive psychology, utilising innovative apps, and building wellness habits, women can embark on a journey of holistic wellbeing. It’s time to unlock your wellness potential—one habit at a time.
Talia Soen is the founder and CEO of the wellness and wellbeing app Happy Things.
Inflammation may help flag depression in women with type 2 diabetes, new research reveals, but the link appears to vary by symptoms and by how depression is measured.
The findings suggest both the promise and the challenge of identifying biomarkers, measurable indicators in blood or other tests, for depression.
Women with type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of depression, which can accelerate diabetes complications, impair functioning and increase the risk of death. Research suggests inflammation may be a key link between the two conditions, as certain inflammatory biomarkers are frequently found in both.
Scientists have yet to identify an objective diagnostic biomarker for depression, such as something measured through blood work, a genetic test or a brain scan.
To diagnose and measure depression, mental health providers usually use questionnaires. Some add up the number of symptoms as a checklist, while others measure the severity of different symptoms.
Depression can also look very different from one person to the next, with symptoms spanning physical effects such as sleeping too much or too little, mood-related issues such as persistent sadness, and cognitive difficulties such as trouble concentrating.
Nicole Beaulieu Perez, assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and study author, said: “Depression is the most measured construct in all of science, but part of our problem is that we’re not defining depression the same, there may be different types, but we’re lumping them all together.
“The variability in depression symptoms complicates how we diagnose and treat it, particularly in the absence of validated biological markers.”
To better understand the connection between inflammation and different symptoms and measures of depression, researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing studied 38 women with type 2 diabetes, many of whom were also living with HIV.
They analysed blood samples for 10 different inflammatory biomarkers, including CRP, IL-6, IL-4 and IL-8.
They also assessed participants for depression using PROMIS, an NIH-developed series of short questionnaires that includes measures of depression, anxiety, sleep and fatigue, as well as the CES-D, an older measure that adds up depression symptoms.
The researchers found that certain inflammatory biomarkers were linked to depression, but the associations varied depending on the measures and symptoms used.
Higher levels of depression and anxiety measured using PROMIS were associated with lower levels of IL-4.
They also found contradictory associations for CRP and IL-6. Both were positively correlated with depression when it was measured using CES-D and negatively correlated when it was measured using PROMIS.
Sleep disturbances measured using PROMIS were associated with IL-8.
Perez said: “It was interesting to see that, in some cases, the direction of these associations flipped entirely based on which measure of depression we were using.”
The findings, while preliminary because of the small number of people studied, suggest that the link between inflammatory biomarkers and depression may not be consistent across all measures or symptoms.
More research is needed to tease out the role of inflammation and whether subtypes of depression can be identified based on symptoms and objective biological markers.
Perez said: “We think there’s something going on with inflammation and depression, but if we look closely, we may find that’s true for some forms of depression but not others.”
She said she hoped that in future, pairing depression measures with biomarkers such as blood tests could provide more objectivity in diagnosing depression, which could help further destigmatise mental illness, as well as help clinicians catch it earlier and guide treatment.
Perez said: “Precision mental health has great potential.
“If we can identify a specific type of depression, for instance, one that appears to be driven by inflammation, this may inform which medications to try to target an underlying biological pathology, hopefully reducing the trial and error often needed to find an effective treatment for depression.
“By identifying specific inflammatory biomarkers linked to different dimensions of mental health, our findings suggest a path toward precision mental health that moves beyond one-size-fits-all approaches.”
A ‘miscarriage cradle’ is being introduced at three Scottish hospitals to help women experiencing miscarriage at home and in hospital.
The device was created by engineer Laura Corcoran after she lost her third baby.
Forced to devise her own way of collecting her baby’s remains, she came up with a solution to deal with the physical side so women could focus on their emotional loss.
Corcoran said: “My husband and I are both engineers, we went into problem-solving mode and we ended up using a kitchen sieve to collect baby over the toilet and then we used a Chinese takeout container to store baby in the fridge over the weekend, the hospital said I wasn’t allowed to bring them in out of hours and I miscarried on a Friday evening.”
Corcoran described the ordeal as ‘a really awful time’ and said she felt very vulnerable.
“It was completely undignified and it felt like I didn’t matter, my baby didn’t matter, there was nothing fit for purpose,” she added.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the first UK health board to roll out its use.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Princess Royal Maternity in Glasgow will offer the device to support women through miscarriage at home and in hospital.
It is believed to be the first time a group of hospitals in the UK has committed to embedding this type of support across multiple sites.
Laura’s invention came out of one of the darkest moments of her life, as she began to miscarry for the third time.
She was bleeding but was told there was no space for her in hospital and that she would have to manage the process at home.
Laura told BBC Scotland News: “Within the NHS, you have to miscarry three times before you are eligible for testing to try to find some answers.”
She said she asked the early pregnancy unit how to collect the baby and they said ‘just to manage’.
During her recovery, Laura became angry that she had not been given the tools she needed to navigate the process.
But then she realised it was not just her, there was nothing fit for purpose for any woman dealing with baby loss.
“Using my background as an engineer, I started cutting up cardboard, taping bits together, sketching ideas.
“When I had something, I went to the 3D printers and printed the first prototype,” Corcoran said.
After patient and clinical feedback, she arrived at the device now in use.
The device is semi-circular and sits under the toilet seat. In the centre is a removable sieve. It filters out what is not needed and keeps the baby.
It then goes into a watertight storage container which can be taken to hospital for testing, or for a burial or cremation.
Corcoran said: “It allows women not to have to think of the practical aspects, to think about the emotional aspects, the grief. It gives them some space and time.
“The possibility that you might not be able to collect the baby and get access to testing adds weight to the problem.
“To be able to collect the baby respectfully and without cross-contamination means women can get access to testing, find potential causes and then prevent them going through it again in their next pregnancy.”
Corcoran said an independent economic report for NHS England showed that 50 per cent uptake would save the NHS in Scotland £11.2m, free up 12,000 gynaecology surgery slots and save 10,000 emergency department visits.
Common menopause symptoms such as brain fog and memory problems do not appear to have a lasting impact on cognitive performance, a study suggests.
The study found that while brain fog is a real symptom commonly experienced by perimenopausal and post-menopausal women, there is no evidence that it has an ongoing impact on core cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, problem-solving and decision-making.
Menopause usually happens at about 51, and cognitive symptoms such as forgetfulness and brain fog, including memory lapses, mental slowing and attention difficulties, are reported by 40 to 80 per cent of women.
But findings have been mixed on whether those symptoms are directly linked to cognitive performance. Their biological basis also remains unclear.
Dr Laura Naysmith, postdoctoral research associate at King’s College London and the study’s first author, said: “Cognitive symptoms are very real and often quite a distressing aspect of the menopause.”
“While mental effort [may] need to increase to maintain cognitive function due to these symptoms, we hope it is reassuring to those experiencing symptoms that cognitive abilities can be preserved.”
“Our study found that core cognitive abilities are consistent between menopausal stages.”
Researchers analysed data from 14,234 women aged 45 to 55 in the REACT-Long Covid Study, a large community cohort in England.
Participants were divided into three groups by menopausal stage, pre-menopause, perimenopause and post-menopause, and reported cognitive symptoms before completing eight online tasks designed to test memory and reasoning.
The analysis found only minimal differences in overall cognitive performance across the three groups, with cognitive symptoms only weakly linked to performance in pre-menopause, perimenopause and post-menopause.
The researchers did find a very weak link between symptoms and performance, but further analysis suggested that cognitive symptoms were more closely associated with increased reporting of psychological symptoms, including anxiety and low mood, especially among perimenopausal and post-menopausal participants.
The team said no global cognitive dysfunction was seen, but stressed that the reported symptoms can still have a significant effect on quality of life.
They called for more precise measures of subjective cognitive difficulties in future research.
Adam Hampshire, the study’s senior author, said: “Next we will explore the basis of the observed elevation in cognitive symptoms in more detail, including whether specific aspects of cognitive performance, or particular groups of people with certain symptom profiles or HRT [hormone-replacement therapy] use, show clearer differences.”
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