Health & Wellness

Our newest project for ME313 is working alongside the innovation division at Humana (a health insurance company based out of Chicago). Our project has nothing to do with health insurance but everything to do with health, wellness and the general wellbeing of humans.
We need to come up with a product, infrastructure or system that will promote some aspect of health to those who come in contact with it. It is very open ended and I'm looking forward to seeing what all the different groups come up with.

So my team and I started our needfinding by conducting some interviews to try and get a more diverse feeling for how people deal with health. I spoke to a young lady, Lisa Marie, who is a yoga instructor in Palo Alto. A Stanford graduate turned entrepreneur, looking to influence people and teach them to accept themselves the way they are before trying to change it. She was energetic and motivated, wishing she could give free lessons and help people realize the they have control. She is transparent with her clients, telling them when she is tired or telling them about how much beer or chocolate she eats so they understand that she is no more perfect than them. Her tatoo says it all: "Release"

I went to a seminar on Mindfullness as well. It is a training in non-judgemental awareness. It is a process that helps you realize what you are doing so that you don't check-out of your own life and live it on auto pilot. By being mindful, you can learn to be present and experience and actually live. I love this concept and have mentioned it to some people about not doing things on auto-pilot. Really taking the time to enjoy a drive to the grocery store or my bike ride to class. Not spacing out allows me to see more things and enjoy more things.

I'm not really the healthiest person. I eat a good breakfast every morning, drink a lot of H20 and hit up the gym a few times a week. I do not get enough sleep, I eat pretty crappy the rest of my meals and I find myself stressed out so often I can feel it physically affecting my body. By seeing and talking with others about their health maybe this project will help me get more motivated to take more control of my own health.

Drink Water.