Many times, people forgo their mental and physical health in favor of the productivity they feel is expected of them.
High school students spend all day in class, play sports or participate in other extracurricular activities afterward, do their homework, and then fall into bed much later than they should.
Parents substitute school for work and homework for household chores or errands, but often follow much of the same routine.
Even elementary-age children are falling victim to the cycle of being productive at the expense of feeling rested and happy. Luckily, the best health & wellness apps 2021 can teach people of all ages to slow down, take a few deep breaths, and get back to taking care of themselves.
1. Calm
One of the biggest reasons people tend to feel stress throughout the day is because they didn’t get enough sleep the night before, or worse, regularly don’t get enough sleep. Calm is a meditation and sleep app meant to combat the problem. The app teams up with world-renowned experts on mindfulness to teach people how to meditate. Audio programs teach mindfulness that helps people to relax and, in many cases, sleep more peacefully. Many users say Calm is especially helpful when used in combination with bedtime yoga for better sleep.
2. Wakeout!
Life is busy. Between spending the day at work, running errands, and attending the kids’ extracurricular activities, many people simply don’t have time to go to the gym or even do a full workout at home. Even so, research has proven the benefits of regular exercise for health and wellbeing. This is why Wakeout! was iPhone’s App of the Year in 2020. The app provides more than 1,000 exercise routines that take only one minute to complete. The short timeframe makes it easy to do mini-workouts throughout the day. Stretch while you wait on your coffee, pick up the pace after lunch, or find other exercises that are made to fit into your busy routine.
3. Relax Meditation
As more people become invested in better mental health, they also realize the benefits of mindfulness apps for kids. One up-and-coming app is Relax Meditation. The subscription-based app seeks to teach kids and adults alike the basics of meditation and mindfulness. Information is topic-based and focuses on self-esteem, dealing with emotions, learning how to focus more easily, and finding positive energy during difficult times. Content changes each month to keep it interesting for users.
4. MyFitnessPal
When you’re on the go, using separate apps to track your weight, water intake, exercise, and calorie intake can be entirely too much work. MyFitnessPal understands that and combines it all into one easy-to-use app. Sign up, set your goals, record your current weight, and start tracking what you eat and how much water you drink. If you wear a fitness tracker, you can automatically sync it to MyFitnessPal; otherwise, add your exercise manually. Complete your food diary each day to see projected progress after five weeks.