Bellabeat has developed a reputation within the women’s wellness industry for being an ethical user of customer data to create custom wellness plans for its millions of users. As part of a crop of new companies changing the wellness space, Bellabeat is focused squarely on women’s issues and made the innovative move to create plans based on menstrual cycle data years ago.
Now, Bellabeat is taking on another major issue in women’s wellness- post-natal depression. This condition is estimated to affect 3 in 10 mothers are many prominent celebrities have spoken out recently about their experiences with it.
Bellabeat Takes on Postnatal Depression
Despite how common post-natal has been shown to be, support for mothers who suffer from it is lacking. Many mothers do not get diagnosed and offered treatment until they are well into their post-natal journey and this means months or years of suffering before any help is given.
This is also in addition to the stigma that often surrounds post-natal depression as a concept. Bellabeat has announced that it will be taking this issue head-on with a $10 million fund that will be dedicated to finding holistic and effective treatments and diagnoses for postnatal depression.
Bellabeat will be doing this by developing algorithms that will help to detect postnatal depression well ahead of time. This helps to combat the late diagnoses that many women who suffer from it often experience. By doing this, treatment plans can be developed ahead of time and the number of mothers who have to endure postnatal depression without support can be reduced.
Besides the research that the Bellabeat team itself will be doing to unearth solutions, the fund will also support innovative solutions outside the organization also working towards the same cause within the maternal health sector. When these solutions are fully developed, they will be deployed to Bellabeat’s platform to help their users.
To decide which solutions will be added and which will be financially supported, Beallbeat’s team of scientific and business specialsits will review each potential recipient and make a final decision. After this is done, Beallbeat users will have access to a whole new suite of tools that can help new mothers test for post-natal depression and receive recommendations for treatments if they are positive.
Bellabeat and the Science of Data
Consumers might wonder how Bellabeat will be able to accurately predict which mother might suffer from post-natal depression. But this is not the first time that Bellabeat is using its technology and algorithms to make health predictions. Take its wearable jewelry tool, the Ivy. when worn, the Ivy automatically tracks women’s heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep quality and duration, and menstrual cycle.
Using this data, the tool is able to predict the user’s potential response to stress. For example, if the user has had an inconsistent sleeping pattern over a number of days and is not exercising, their stress resistance levels will likely be low.
In a similar vein, if a mother reports certain lifestyle habits during pregnancy, as well as pre-existing mental health conditions, their likelihood of developing post-natal depression is much higher. The good news is that with this information, the mother in question can be given a curated wellness plan ahead of time to make sure that if and when such a depressive period arrives, she will be prepared.
The women’s wellness industry is certainly changing and with innovations like this fund, it is clear that more women-centered issues will be addressed over time.
