26 May Useful Apps & Programs for your Health and Wellness

Useful Apps & Programs for your Health and Wellness

My sister once commented, “Isn’t it ironic to have a mindfulness app on your phone, the KING of all distractions?”

That one had me stumped.

But actually, I disagree; my morning ritual of scrolling through an endless, cacophonic FB feed has been supplanted by the dulcet tones of an Englishman, who encourages me to check in with my body, my breath & to pay attention to the world around me. His name is Andy, & my mornings would be chaotic without him.

It took me a while to find Andy &, in this app-age of ‘everyone has one’, finding the gems in amongst the Candy Crushes can be a time-consuming, dizzying merry-go-round of a nightmare.

Don’t panic!

We’ve done the hard work for you & collated a list of our favourite health & wellness apps:

 Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind is a unique web and App-based program developed by a team of psychologists with expertise in youth and adolescent therapy, Mindfulness Meditation and web-based wellness programs. Smiling Mind is a free tool that will assist in improving the lives of young Australians, and is available online or as a smartphone App.

Just Start Walking

From the Australian Chiropractor’s Association comes this easy-to-use app. It allows you to track, map and measure the distance you’ve walked, share updates with friends, while offering information on how to maintain correct posture.

Stress Check

According to Lifeline, 93 per cent of Australians experience stress due to family, work, health and financial pressure. Use this app to see how you rate on the stress chart. Developed by clinical psychologists, it takes you through a series of stress check quiz, exploring different areas of in your life. These stressors are explained, along with helpful tips on how to reduce anxiety in those areas.

BrainyApp

Even if you’re decades away from collecting your pension, it’s never too late to reduce your risk of developing dementia. Alzheimer’s Australia and the Bupa Health Foundation have launched BrainyApp, to help younger Australians reduce their risk, with information including improving heart health, exercise, nutrition and reducing alcohol intake.

iMuscle

iMuscle offers a 3D look at the body’s muscular structure, letting you identify the body parts or muscle groups you wish to work on. It provides specific exercises to develop different muscles, lets you create or customise your own workouts and track your progress. It can be used by everyday fitness fans to the professionals as the anatomical modelling, labelling and descriptions are medically correct.

Hotseat

The app uses nudges, social accountability and gameplay to create easy and fun two-minute office activity breaks. Using their smartphones, employees can select physical activities they’re comfortable with and capable of completing at the office. Then Hotseat inserts a rotating daily selection of activity breaks into the user’s calendar, based on their availability. In addition, employees can compete in collaborative or competitive challenges.

Nike Boom

Now you can achieve that long, lean and toned body with Nike’s personal trainer workout app. This version lets you choose from more than 60 workout sessions (including images and audio) matched back to your own music.

Keas

Users start with generating a detailed and personalized profile. Then, the Keas platform empowers employees to set custom wellness goals and objectives, incorporating the entire spectrum of wellness activities including diet, fitness and mental health. As part of their commitment to providing a 360 solution, Keas partners with MyBrainSolutions to offer more than 25 games that help employees improve mental acuity, focus and productivity. New Keas games and polls deliver critical nutrition, fitness and stress management information along with seasonal content relevant to the health activities, challenges and opportunities of each month.

Headspace

This genius app is like a personal trainer for your mind. Meditation & mindfulness whizz Andy Puddicombe is the voice of Headspace & listening to his calming, dulcet tones in the AM is the ultimate way to kick off your day. The free Take 10 program – 10 minutes a day for 10 days – is a simple intro to mindfulness, with colourful animations & clear instructions to ease your way into it…Though if you’re anything like us, you’ll ‘mindfulness-binge’ (is that a thing??), complete the intro in 3 days & sign up to continue your journey, unlocking the full library of minduflness ‘collections’. Choose your session length, replay your favourites and learn how to apply mindfulness to your everyday activities.

This is our list; what are you favourite wellness apps? We’d love to know! x