The Institute for Health Solutions

Too much stress can kill. According to the American Medical Association, stress is a factor in over 75% of sickness and the World Health Organization has stated that stress is America's number one health problem. We all experience some degree of stress and that's on the increase due to information overload, the increasing complexity of our lives and a litany of reasons too numerous to count. We all know this on some level, but what can be done about it? One possible solution can be found in a very intriguing app called Check In: The 5 Tools of EBT [iTunes Link] $.99 US. EBT stands for Emotional Brain Training, a method that was developed over the last 30 years at the University of California, San Francisco, to act as an appetite suppressant for obese children. Eventually, in response to new discoveries in neuroscience (the study of the nervous system) EBT reached its present form. EBT is a brain-based emotional response training method that purports to teach people how to effectively process stress so that their stress level returns to one of well being. The method involves 5 specific levels of stress ranging from 1: feeling great, to 5: totally stressed out. Once a level is determined you are given systematic and repetitious tools to raise your level. With enough practice transitory results can become longer lasting as you, in effect, rewire your brain to deal with stress in a positive manner. When the app is first run, you'll see the screen at the top of this post. There are two major components of the app: one that determines your current brain state and another that helps you raise the brain state, eventually getting to 1. Tapping on the Brain State Finder runs a video of Laurel Mellin, one of the developers of the method, who explains each brain state in a brief video and presents a series of multiple choice questions involving thinking, feeling, relationships, spirituality and behavior. When that's done, another video of Laurel runs telling you your current brain state, and explaining it fully. Whenever you get through a task, you'll get another video of Lauren (these can be turned off), which is uncannily specific to what you just did. It's not the like having a therapist in the room with you, but more like a coach who, amazingly enough, always seems to have your number both literally and Read More