According to research from the World Health Organization released in March 2022, global levels of anxiety and depression increased by a whopping 25% in the first year of the pandemic. With the world remaining in a state of tumult, stressors have not faded away as we see growing crises of living, war, continued health concerns and climate change all driving up stress levels. However, new research is showing that people can impact their happiness levels through frequent small moments of joy which can train the brain to reach for positive feelings rather than negative ones like anger, fear or worry. Tapping into this research, brands are helping consumers with micro-doses of happiness.

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The Move feature on the Calm app

January 2022 saw the launch of Move, a new feature on the meditation app Calm. As its name implies, Move seeks to get people to be more active for tiny bursts of time – 3-5 minutes. Manageable but impactful, Move sessions aim to help people build a daily habit and as the brand claims “enhance joy”.

After seeing research around the benefits of fostering short moments of happiness, National Public Radio (NPR) in the US created the microsite Joy Generator last July. Offering soothing sounds and visuals, Joy Generator provides little hits of joy to help people reframe their thinking and seek out more moments of pleasure rather than worry.

WEB Daily Move Mel Mah Image 5
The Move feature on the Calm app

Bringing a sense of calm into the beauty space, Taiwanese company 3LD’s Phytoflow meditation skincare regime was launched at the end of 2021. Based on research around the benefits of meditation on not only stress levels but skin health, the range of 10 different products contain botanical elements which are meant to mimic the effects of meditation; reducing stress and inflammation both internally and externally without adding to one’s to do list.

As the wellness conversation turns towards emotional wellbeing, consumers are seeking out brands to help them in their search for happiness, as we noted in “The Future 100: 2022” (see trends #77 Prescribing happiness and #90 Emotional health). In a world filled with fear and anxiety, people are seeking out moments of joy with intentionality. Success for brands will be about finding those little wins that can help people more frequently – those everyday micro-doses of joy.

Main image of the Move feature on the Calm app, courtesy of Calm.

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