YORK, Pa. — Thanks to COVID-19, many people who never had anxiety before are starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. There are plenty of ways to combat the issue, but one device claims to stop panic right in its tracks. Oh, and it's all-natural.
CalmiGo is a small handheld device that allows you to find drug-free relief from stress, anxiety and distress by regulating your breathing patterns and stimulating your senses. FOX43's Amy Lutz talked to the woman who came up with the idea, and she says it came from years of struggling with anxiety herself.
"I decided what I wanted to do with my life is to create a product that people can take with them everywhere they go and use it in order to calm themselves down without being dependent on medications or on other people to help them calm down," said Ali Wallach.
When you breathe in and out of the CalmiGo, Wallach says 3 things happen.
1. The smart technology regulates your breathing. The lights and vibration feedback guide you to effortlessly regulate your breath according to your unique abilities and needs at the moment. As a result, the gases in your blood are balanced (CO2, O2) and the system in your brain that is responsible for relaxation (known as the parasympathetic system) is activated. Thus, you achieve calm after just a few breaths.
2. A scented element activates parts of your nervous system which induce mind and body relaxation in just a few seconds.
(When you remove the cover, it immediately activates a psychological and physiological response related to memories and associations, giving you a sense of calm, even before you turn on the device.)
3. It activates all four of your senses at once, which she says converts them from a stressed state to a calm one- almost instantly.
(Each one of us has a dominant sense. For some of us, the visual sense is the strongest. For others, the auditory and olfactory senses tend to dominate. By activating four senses at once, CalmiGo efficiently detaches your senses from a stress/anxiousness state to a calm state.)
The CalmiGO launched last year in the US and Adi says she's definitely seen a spike in orders in the past month or so, as fears from COVID-19 strengthen.
If you're interested in finding out more about this device, check it out here.