3 Wellness Apps to Download Now

With spring now well under way (we’re still stocking up on daffodils and tulips despite the fact that we had to de-ice our cars this morning), it’s time for a mental check-in, a chance to spring clean yourself from within. Don’t worry, though, we’re not talking invasive colonics here, we’re simply bringing you back to the subject of wellbeing. Below we profile three more wellness apps that you may not have heard of, all designed to help you become the best version of yourself. We’ve downloaded them all and give them two enthusiastic thumbs up!

First up we’ve taken a look at Sleepio, an app designed – you guessed it – to help with your restless woes. According to Women’s Health, this app has been personally recommended by Dr Irshaad Ebrahim of the London Sleep Centre, so you know it’s just not some looper with a recording device, trying to woo you off by counting sheep. This app was in fact created by world sleep expert Professor Colin Espie, and brings you cognitive behavioural therapy techniques (CBT, a backed-by-science form of therapy) that are both personal to you and help to stave off that pre-sleep anxiety. Head to sleepio.com and take their free sleep test to find out how good or bad you’ve been fairing.

From Sleepio themselves,”Our results show that the Sleepio course helped around 75% of people with persistent sleep problems to improve their sleep to healthy levels, compared with the placebo and no treatment conditions which had relatively little impact.”
This app is free with in-app purcase on iTunes and priced from €2.68 per week on Google Play.

For organised women who like to stay on top of their menstrual cycle as well as track their fertility, Fertility Friend is worth the free download. This simple app tracks your period and ovulation dates with the aim of guiding you and your partner towards the best times to try for a baby. Recommended by fertility experts, this helpful app also “identifies?pregnancy symptoms and see when to take a?pregnancy test. Know your chance of pregnancy and see if any?fertility problems are preventing you from getting pregnant quickly. When you chart your?fertility signs, you’ll be in control. Fertility Friend will help with advanced tools, sophisticated analysis and support.”

Another app that we’ve just recently downloaded is for the positive mental health bunnies among us: Optimism. Though this app was originally designed to help those who battle with depression, this app has apparently grown in popularity so much so that it is used by anyone who wants to keep an eye on their mental health (which should really be every one of us). This is a really handy app that allows you to chart your moods in a detailed manner that helps you detect the things that affect your state of mind. As per the app itself, ‘by monitoring patterns in your life you can identify negative influences that you need to avoid, early warning signs that your health is deteriorating, and the inputs and activities that benefit you most.’

Don’t miss our piece on 3 of the best apps for meditation and mindfulness right here.

@CarolineForan