The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 1 (February 2015) | Page 12

INDUSTRY
NEWS
News and Information for
Digital Health Professionals

New App Helps Sports
Professionals Reduce Stress
and Anxiety
The British Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) have launched
an innovative new app that has been
designed to help players reduce stress
and anxiety.
The PCA working in partnership with
Virtually Free have developed an app
which uses four proven relaxation techniques designed to help reduce stress:
Calm breathing, Meditation, Deep muscle relaxation, and Self-hypnosis. The
app called ‘Stress Free’ introduces users
to these techniques through interaction
with a virtual doctor (Dr Freeman), who
acts as a personal guide, directing easyto-follow demonstrations that teach
relaxation techniques and encourage
users to utilise the built-in journal and
daily goal-setting tools that help to keep
people engaged.
Speaking at the app launch, Marcus
Trescothick, the Somerset and former
England batsman, stated: “We all experience stress and anxiety every day but
at times this can be so extreme that it
becomes an illness. When it gets to that
level it can stop us from getting on with
our lives or doing the things we love, like
playing cricket,”
“We at the PCA take stress-related illnesses very seriously and we want
to raise awareness of them. We

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February 2015

want to build a culture that acknowledges
that it is OK - not to be OK. Our aim is
to help our members prevent them when
possible or seek help in the early stages
if not.”
“As part of this initiative we have teamed
up with a talented team of clinicians and
software developers to offer ‘Stress Free’
to our members.”
“This app teaches you to practise four
different relaxation techniques which

have all shown to be effective in clinical trials. These can help de-stress when
anxiety is getting on top of us, but they
can also help us become more resilient to
stress in general. In particular meditation
can build our ability to cope with stress.”
“Just like we take our body really seriously ‘Stress Free’ encourages us to
practice relaxation skills frequently and
train your resilience. You cannot focus
on your body and forget your mind. You
need both to win the game. We hope