Happify App: Virtual Wellness At Your Finger Tips

What if we told you there’s an app that can boost your mood, increase positive emotions and improve life satisfaction? Sounds pretty incredible, right? And as astounding as it sounds, we’re happy to confirm that it does exist. Happify is our “This Is My Well” feature of the week. This unique app that was specially designed to assess your life situations and how you feel about them. and our “This Is My Well” feature of the week. It was uniquely designed by a team of experts and includes four weeks’ worth of activities and games that fit different life experiences.

Happify’s activities and games are based on scientific research that suggests there are five essential skills for happiness: savoring, thanking, aspiring, giving, and empathizing. It’s been referenced as an “online gym for the soul.”

Happify intermittently quizzes you to measure your happiness, and the dashboard shows your progress on the different happiness skills. During its beta test, it notably helped 86 percent of users see increases in their happiness.

We had the pleasure of connecting with Tiffany Sun, Happify’s Head of Content Strategy. Tiffany serves as editor-in-chief of Happify, overseeing content development and strategy across Happify’s platforms and developing ideas for engaging experiences with leading experts in the field of positive psychology. Find out how she stays well and what exciting new features Happify has in store for us in the coming year.

How do you stay well and fit? What do you do to stay centered? How do you maintain a sense of well-being?

I’ve been incorporating yoga into my routine for the last 8 years and have recently picked up TRX for strength-training. Even on days when I’m feeling lazy or that the trek to my yoga studio is too far, I’ve never once left a class thinking, “I wish I’d stayed at home and watched Netflix instead” It always makes me feel invigorated, and it’s especially rejuvenating on nights after I’ve been sitting at my desk all day. Earlier this year, I also started journaling pretty regularly before bed, and I’ve found it to be a relaxing practice that allows me to gather my thoughts from the day and fall asleep more easily.  

What tips or suggestions do you have for people that maintain rigorous lifestyles-sprinkled with life’s unforeseen challenges or unexpected hurdles?

I think if you can find at least one thing that makes you feel grounded when everything around you is chaos, it makes a huge difference. It might be making space for 10 minutes of meditation before you leave the house in the morning, or writing a few things you’re grateful for each day, or a daily walk with a pet or even a weekly coffee meet-up with a friend — all of these things can be centering and grounding when everything else in your life feels out of your control.

What’s next for Happify? Any special projects? Please share with our reading audience.

We have an exciting new game launching on the app in early 2016 called Breather, which uses sensor technology to detect your heart rate variability and stress level when you place your fingertip over your mobile phone’s camera lens. Combined with a fun, immersive game design, it teaches you to regulate your breathing so you experience more calm and less stress in just minutes.  We’ll also be expanding our existing track catalog (our most popular 4-week tracks are currently “Conquer Negative Thoughts,” “Find Your Calling,” and “Cope Better With Stress”) to address individuals who are dealing with chronic conditions, from sleep disorders to chronic pain and diabetes.

Special thanks to Tiffany Sun for taking the time to give us exciting updates on Happify and for sharing her well with us.