With unemployment levels rocketing in the United States as the coronavirus pandemic continues, many people are experiencing heightened levels of stress and anxiety due to job loss or being furloughed. At times it may seem impossible to feel calm, but mindfulness meditation company Headspace wants to help by offering all unemployed Americans a free one year’s subscription to Headspace Plus, its premium mindfulness meditation learning platform.
If you’re an unemployed American, you can use Headspace Plus for the next year for free and learn how to practice mindfulness and meditation, both of which will help you find ways to feel more calm and less stressed or anxious. Headspace Plus also offers exercises created to help you sleep well – or a little better than you have been, anyway. All you need to do is download the Headspace app, compatible with the best smartphones and tablets, and sign up. Or you can access Headspace via your computer.
This good news from Headspace comes at a time when up to 43 million Americans could lose health insurance due to coronavirus-related job loss. Leading health organizations have also warned of a mental health pandemic off the back of the coronavirus fallout, with a greater uptake already seen in teletherapy for conditions such as anxiety and stress.
That’s why a year’s free subscription to Headspace Plus could help ease the burden for some. The program centers around 40 themed meditations. There are mini mindfulness meditations for those who are new to the practice and want an easy step in, as well as techniques to help you learn how to calm a racing mind.
#Headspace was founded to improve the health and happiness of the world — for whoever needs help, but especially those who need help most. So, from today we’re offering every unemployed person in America free access to Headspace Plus, for a year. pic.twitter.com/HXh8JKrImpMay 14, 2020
Mindfulness and meditation can help you:
- Reduce stress
- Control anxiety
- Increase your self-awareness
- Boost your problem solving skills
- Lengthen your attention span
- Feel more grounded and peaceful
- Increase feelings of compassion and gratitude
Sleep has a huge impact on our mental health, and can be negatively impacted by a range of issues, from sleeping in a room that’s too noisy or too hot, through to being kept awake by a racing mind, or not having the best mattress or the best pillow for your sleep style. Via Headspace Plus, you’ll also be able to access a series of guided meditations created to help you sleep better. These are based around calming your mind before sleep, so that you’re in a more relaxed state before you lay your head down.
There will also be a new series of meditations, available via the Headspace app, aimed at how to live through unemployment. These guided mindfulness meditation sessions cover topics such as how to adapt to sudden change, and how to find purpose again.
How the wellness community responded to the coronavirus pandemic
For all the bad news we’ve seen since the coronavirus pandemic first hit, we’ve also seen the wonderful way in which many companies and individuals have stepped up to help their global community. The fitness industry, in particular, has responded to the coronavirus crisis by offering people free at-home fitness classes, with many brands, such as Peloton and Fitbit, one of the best fitness tracker brands in the world, offering extended free trials on their digital fitness platforms.
In the UK, the NHS made the Thrive app available to everyone to help people deal with anxiety, stress and low mood, while Chris Hemsworth and the team behind his wellness Centr app have created a series of meditations for kids experiencing stress and anxiety as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Even big pharmaceutical companies have extended care, with insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk offering a free 90-day insulin supply to diabetes patients who have lost health insurance due to a coronavirus-related job change or loss.
