Stress is a huge global health burden
Nearly two third of the population experience stress related
mental or physical illness
It is a common risk factor of 90% of diseases
including mental, autoimmune, cardiovascular,
infectious diseases, and even some cancer.
The effect of environment on stress is a major concern:
factors like urban environment, traffic, noise or urban decay
can be important stressors.
Thankfully, green spaces have a protective effect on stress levels.
It’s crucial to understand in depth the factors that trigger stress in the urban environment,
as 68% of the world's population will be living in cities by 2050!
To comprehensively understand the influence of your daily environment on stress,
it is important to consider three factors:
The places you visit throughout the day,
where you live, work, travel, shop, play and socialize
can have a strong influence on your stress levels
Moreover, WHEN you visit these places during the day,
the order and time of your visits
can alter your stress levels.
For instance, will you benefit from relaxing in a park
if you have to travel for 20 minutes in a noisy crowded street to reach it?
Finally, the type of activity you do and the company also matters:
The relaxing effect of this park is different whether you are alone reading,
or with your children, watching they do not hurt themselves.
This is why we have launched the FragMent project!
For the first time, we are conducting an in-depth study of WHERE and WHEN
we are exposed to stress-inducing factors.
We will do this in three ways:
First, volunteer participants will participate in a 15-day survey.
Using a mobile app, they'll track their movements, activities, and stress levels regularly.
Volunteers will even be able speak to us directly in the smartphone,
to identify the stress via their voice!
Second, volunteers will use virtual reality technology
to simulate how everyday experiences in different environments can trigger different emotions.
Third, we’ll hold group discussions and participatory workshops
with citizen and local stakeholders!
All this information is for designing cities that minimize daily stress.
This is fundamental to our physical and mental health!
But for that we need you!
Join and participate, and together let's change lives.
www.fragmentproject.eu