Using virtual reality to reduce stress at work

Work related stress and depression is becoming a major concern at the work place and a major factor in decreased productivity amongst office workers. A Virtual Reality (VR) application was developed as a new form of stress management that could be deployed at the workplace and allow workers to relax during their breaks. The application consisted of a relaxing virtual environment and utilized the Oculus Rift VR headset. Two modes were offered. Firstly, a peaceful scenery intended purely for relaxation purposes and secondly, a combination of a relaxing virtual environment which also incorporated real-time, work related information. The latter to examine whether office workers would benefit from transferring some of their work in a more relaxing, virtual space. 32 participants took part in this study. The results show that participants enjoyed the relaxation experience, felt more relaxed after using the application and responded favorably to the idea of using virtual reality for relaxation at work as well as combining relaxing virtual environments with work related activities.