Annika Hardy:
The Relaxation Chair: a comfortable chair that stops nervous habits by providing alternative activities that are embedded in the sides of the chair. The chair is designed for any space that could potentially be a high stress or anxiety-producing place, like hospital waiting rooms or school offices. 

Waiting rooms in hospitals, doctors' offices, and school offices, are some of the most common places to feel anxious or restless. For many people, these uncomfortable feelings lead to nervous habits that can range from fairly harmless nail-biting to potentially destructive hair-pulling or skin-picking. Whatever the habit, refraining from acting on the compulsion can sometimes seem impossible, especially in a high-stress environment. Research suggests that the best ways to break bad habits are through distraction and awareness. When a person is distracted from acting out their habit, they are less likely to do the habit and over time less likely to feel the need to do it. When someone does act out their habit, it can be helpful for it to be clearly brought to their attention, because habits can sometimes become so ingrained they are subconscious. It is for these reasons that the Relaxation Chair should be an essential part of every waiting room. The chair arms incorporate fidget toys like buttons to push, string and tabs to pull and rotate and calming activities like drawing to engage the user. The design also includes an overhead sensor that recognizes and covers the face of a user if they begin biting their nails or indulging in any other nervous habit involving the mouth. By providing a space in which the user will be distracted and gently prevented from engaging in nervous habits, the chair will allow the user to feel more relaxed in a stressful situation and will help break potentially harmful habits.