The Home2Sanctuary project involved sending daily text messages to 8 participants asking about their evening relaxation activities over the course of a week. Most participants reported increased mindfulness about relaxation techniques as a result. While stress levels generally stayed the same or decreased, participants unanimously felt they were more conscious of relaxation methods. The personal nature of the text messages seemed to create accountability and motivation to engage in deliberate relaxation. Overall, simply reporting daily activities led participants to adapt their behaviors to improve relaxation without prescriptive suggestions.

1. Home2Sanctuary
Project
Elyse Marr
May 9, 2011

2. The Study
 8 people with different types
of work and commute
experiences: ranging from 5
minute walk commute, to 1.5
hour train ride, to students.
 one week trial
 2 texts each day
 Most participants felt that
they had ok ways to relax, but
they could be better.

3. Quick & Immediate Affects
 “think a little bit more!”
 “Makes me aware.”
 “Stress is amplified by being tired.”
 “I can't take work home with me”
 Realizations
 More Mindfulness
 Appreciation Helpful Reminders for
health

6. Most successful Feedback
from a Participant
 The most stress person:
 Ranking 4 out of 5 of stress level.
 “I really have no good way to relax at the
end of the day, but I deal with it”
 My stress is amplified my being tired.
 My home can be quite distracting.
 After a week:
 reduced his stress level from 4 to 3.
 His mindfulness went from a 1 to a 4
 It helped me remember that the home
should be a relaxing sanctum

7. Outcomes
 Overall, stress levels stayed the same or
decreased.
 BUT! Every single participant said they
increased mindfulness of their
relaxation techniques.
 LOTS of evidence that people are being
mindful in other ways, even other areas of
their life.

8. Adding he personal touch of knowing what
they did, (even though the questions were
the same!) created the social pressure.
 These texts made people feel like they
were being watched: “Sometimes I felt
guilty.” (Started to read a book instead
of watching TV.)
 “I liked the personal element, how you
would take what I sent earlier in the day
and then riff on it for the evening prompt.
It made deliberate relaxation salient”
 “yeah, it motivated it, and was helpful, but
the day after i went back to my old
ways”( One Saturday day I didn’t ask
the question, the student wasn’t taking
time out for himself)

9. Mindfulness creates Mindfulness.
 “It also got me thinking about what I do
when I'm not working and how they make
me feel.”
 “I could see it helping me over time to be
more conscious of what I do in non-work
times.”
 “[I realized that] I'm really not that
stressed even with all the juggling in my
life”

10. It was not prescriptive, so
People made it work for them
 “It's somewhat different from my normal outlook on
daily life, where I try not to separate work and leisure
into distinct categories, one that is stressful and one
that is not. Instead I try to integrate the two, and be
calm across both realms, so this intervention felt like
it wasn't totally relevant to me personally.”
 I don't think of things at home as ways to destress for
the most part. But it was helpful to reflect on what I
was choosing to do with my time. It brought more
satisfaction. Sometimes it can be stressful just
choosing what to do at home, of several options.
Answering the question made me think and give
something specific to do.
 “that if planned with enough openness, it can be fun
and help bolster my motivation to work once i've re-
resumed”

11. Design Takeaways
 Don’t tell them to do an action – report
their action, and they’ll adapt behavior to
be better.
 Someone on the receiving end creates
social pressure.
 Designing for mindfulness – it leads to
relaxation
 Food, TV, and social activity was the only
de-stressors. How might we design for
more enduring relaxation techniques,
(meditation, breathing, etc)?

12. How we got here
Expert focus: Help HR people help
their employees leave and come to
work relaxed.
Quick Crummy Trial: Step into your
home with a smile
Text2Calm: Home2Sanctuary created
mindfulness about relaxation at home.
LONG TERM GOAL FOR CALMING
TECH: Make the entire commute
time become mindful, relaxation
time.