Today, countless apps promote health. Whether it’s fitness, nutrition, mental, or reproductive, there is something for everyone. These apps allow you to control your health on a daily basis. They give you autonomy and independence to be your healthiest self. However, it can be hard to decide which apps you should trust to provide you with proper guidance. Keep reading to learn more about seven of the best apps that impact your health.
Elevate: Brain Training (4.8/5 stars)
Elevate provides brain training personalized for you. There are 40 plus games designed to boost productivity and self-confidence in skills like math, speaking, reading, writing, and recall. You can track your improvement, and as you train, the program will adjust to your skills. The games are designed in collaboration with experts and backed by independent analysis. Having helped over 50 million people and winning Apple’s “App of the year” award, you can rest assured that your math and communication skills will shoot through the roof.
Lifesum (4.7/5 stars)
According to Lifesum, “when we shift towards self-love, we attract what supports our well-being.” This app’s whole purpose is to help the user discover an appreciation for themselves by taking actions to support their physical, spiritual, and mental growth. The creators of the app base this approach on research that shows how self-love can decrease stress levels, which helps improve overall health and keep you motivated to live your best life. This app teaches you to be mindful of everything you do. From eating to exercise, do what makes you feel good rather than what other people tell you to do. Your health is about the freedom of choice. So, focus on what’s best for you. One size does not fit all. This app will help push you into a productive headspace that will have you falling in love with yourself and your life.
Fabulous: Daily Routine Planner (4.6/5 stars)
Fabulous is a daily planner and self-care habit tracking app. The app acts as a coach and utilizes behavioral sciences to help people make beneficial changes and build healthy habits. You build routines over time by setting small, daily obtainable goals and “journeys.” The initial journey helps you create a healthy morning routine. When you start your day on a positive note, it’ll set you up for more success during the rest of the day. The sessions you partake in are science-backed and created with researchers. Everything is “gamified.” Making goal setting and staying accountable fun. This app also provides an extensive collection of exercises and meditations. Each routine shows how long each task will take, making it easy to fit these activities and lessons throughout the day. This app is excellent for someone who experiences chronic fatigue, wants to increase energy levels, can’t concentrate, can’t sleep at night, has anxiety, or lives with ADHD.
Headspace: Mindful Meditation (4.9/5 stars)
This app claims to help you feel 14% less stressed in just ten days. Headspace utilizes science-backed meditation and mindfulness tools to help users create good habits that support mental health. It can help you relax your mind in minutes, improve focus, get fantastic sleep. Headspace happens to be a part of Headspace Health, “the world’s most accessible and comprehensive provider of mental health and well-being care.” There are over 70 million members in the Headspace community, which spans over 190 countries. Upon some research, we discovered that this app also happens to be the most science-backed meditation app. Thousands of studies support the notion that mindfulness and mediation can positively impact mental and physical health.
Noom (4.7/5 stars)
Noom has been around for a minute, but if you found it back in 2008, you’d be amazed to see all the improvements the Noom team has made to the app today. With the help of Dr. Andreas Michaelides, PhD., a licensed clinical psychologist and Noom’s Chief of Psychology, Noom was able to introduce science-backed, psychological coaching to help individuals create a healthier relationship with food. The whole point is to set a goal weight, reach it, and maintain weight loss for a prolonged period. Developed by psychologists, doctors, and researchers, Noom’s curriculum is not a diet but a lifestyle. The lifestyle focuses on social eating, cognition and food, stress management, managing emotions concerning food, how exercise affects you, and so much more. The app will pair you with coaches who hold degrees in fields like personal training, nutrition, and counseling. Noom boasts that their coaches are some of the best in the business. These coaches, mixed with the science-backed approach, sound like a recipe for success.
Calm (4.8/5 stars)
Calm happens to be the #1 app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation. The numbers speak for themselves, with over 100 million downloads and over 1.5 million five-star reviews. If that wasn’t enough to convince you to give it a try, the Center for Humane Technology named Clam “the world’s happiest app.” Unlike some of the other apps mentioned in the list, Calm strictly teaches the life-changing skill of meditation. The app itself offers:
- Exclusive music for relaxation, focus, and sleep
- Video lessons on mindful and gentle stretching
- Audio programs taught by mindfulness experts
- Nature scenes and sounds to enjoy while sleeping, relaxing, studying, or working
Jennifer Huberty, PhD., is the Director of Calm Science. According to Calm, “her research focuses on the development of novel interventions that utilize complementary approaches (physical activity, yoga, meditation) to improve mental and physical health.” Along with Huberty’s research, Calm also utilizes its Scientific Advisory Board to inform content and product development. It does this by conducting more research, reviewing the scientific literature, and building partnerships with other healthcare providers and researchers.
Clue Period & Cycle Tracker (4.8/5 stars)
Several different lists have awarded Clue as the #1 menstrual and reproductive health app on the market. According to Clue, “by combining science and technology, we are actively changing the way people learn, access, and talk about menstrual and reproductive health around the world.” And around the world indeed. Clue currently serves over 12 million users in 190 different countries and is available in 15 languages, a testament to their dedication to accessibility. Clue’s core values are trust, care, and science. They are proud to “provide trustworthy information, data-driven tools, and emotional support for everyone with a menstrual cycle.” The dedication to accessibility and science, along with 30 plus tracking options and an FDA-cleared digital contraceptive (coming soon), makes Clue a standout among other period tracking apps.
Clue is also a femtech company. One of Clue’s co-founders, Ida Tin, coined the term “femtech” in 2016. It defines the group of technologies designed to support and advance women’s health. By grouping these technologies, it creates a roadmap for everything else that’s needed in the world of women’s health. This supportive, transparent, and scientific app is the perfect friend to help menstruating individuals maintain their health.
Prioritize Your Health, Head to The James Clinic
The James Clinic believes in taking control of your health. Today, there are so many different options for healthcare that, just like picking the right app for yourself, it can be challenging to find a provider that works for you. The James Clinic provides functional and emergency medicine for individuals looking for a personalized healthcare plan. Request a consult today and take your health into your own hands.