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LOS ANGELES, August 17, 2020 (Newswire.com) – On Aug. 13, 2020, Breathwrk, Inc., a venture-backed startup whose mobile application offers science-backed breathing exercises for mental and physical wellness, earned a spot in the Top 10 apps in Health and Fitness on the Apple App Store. Launching just eight months ago, Breathwrk’s mission is to help people optimize their life through their lungs.
Since November 2019, Breathwrk has garnered over 170,000 users and has been featured in Vogue, Goop and TheSkimm. The app promotes breathwork for anxiety, sleep, athletic performance, focus, energy, bliss and more.
“It’s really exciting to reflect on the past eight months; it’s a signal that the market for breathing exercises and alternative fitness/wellness activities are starting to expand,” said CEO and co-founder of Breathwrk Max Gomez. “It’s an honor to be able to help so many people in these challenging times,” he continued.
Breathwork is a major emerging trend, as evidenced by rising Google searches and touts by celebrities and media exponentially increasing its coverage on the subject. In May 2020, Google Trends reported that searches for “breathwork” and “breathing” have increased 326% since 2018. Renowned author James Nestor also published a book, “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art,” which details how the manipulation and optimization of breath can change one’s life drastically. Celebrities such as Oprah, Joe Rogan, Camila Cabello and Gwyneth Paltrow, moreover, have expressed their utilization of breathwork in their lives.
“Take five minutes out of your day today to just inhale for five seconds through your nose, and exhale for five seconds through your mouth – and super focus on your breath and how it feels coming in and out of your nostrils,” Cabello wrote on Instagram in August 2019. “Do it three times a day and whenever you feel yourself getting overwhelmed.”
Given the rise in anxiety and other mental health-related ailments due to COVID-19, the heightened interest in breathwork comes at the perfect time. According to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of adults in the U.S. said that the pandemic has negatively impacted their mental health. In March, prescriptions for drugs such as Xanax and Klonopin increased by 15 percent from February; antidepressants by 14 percent and sleeping pills by five percent, according to OptumRx.
A recent study conducted at Yale University showed that breathing exercises lead to improvements in well-being. Following a training program called SKY Campus Happiness, 135 undergraduate students at Yale reported developments in depression, stress, mindfulness, social connectedness and mindfulness. Another program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which focuses on mindfulness, resulted in no reported improvements.
“I’m excited to see where the industry is going. We really think this can be bigger than the meditation space and positively impact millions of people around the world,” Gomez said.
