Our smart phones have become everyday parts of our lives, sometimes to our detriment! Luckily, there are some ways to use this technology to assist with mental health and emotional strain. Here are my favorite and most recommended mental health apps!
1. Calm: This is my favorite meditation app due to its versatility and beautiful imagery. Users can start with the 7 days of calm, learning basic meditation skills, and advance to themes like gratitude and self esteem. The app also offers visualization, sleep stories, music and nature sounds. To go beyond the basics, you do have to subscribe and pay which is the only down side.
2. Headspace: Also a great app, headspace is usually a favorite for people that like a specific organization to their apps, without too much fuss. Headspace is organized with cartoons that explain the fundamentals of mindfulness and friendly exercises that walk you thorough skills of meditation. You get the first 10 or so exercises for free before they ask you to subscribe and pay.
3. Relax Melodies: Most of the features of this app are completely free. This is a must have for folks wanting a wide array of choices in nature sounds, music and white noise to fall asleep to at night or to quiet their mind.
4. Moodkit: This app is $4.99, but worth the investment if you are looking for a mood tracker app loaded with extra features. Here you can track your mood including triggers and journal entries and engage in quick coping activities to reframe your negative thinking or engage in some fact checking. A good go to for reframing negative thoughts and identifying your triggers.
