Leave it to a university student to come up with a great stress reducer. Industrial Design PhD student Miguel Bruns Alonso from Delft University in the Netherlands has created the “anti-stress pen” which, he says, can identify a user’s short-term stress and then proceed to alleviate some of it.

Most of us fidget with our pens as we’re writing, whether we’re aware of it or not. It’s a symptom of anxiety and/or stress. When this prototype pen detects this nervous behavior, it sends out a counterweight effect via its internal electromagnets. This makes the pen tougher to move and stops the fidgeting. At that point, the electromagnets release, rewarding the user for “good” behavior!

Though only a prototype, this sounds like a gadget a lot of us stressed out folks could really use!