Self-care apps aren’t a luxury — they provide valuable mental health support, romantic advice, and spiritual guidance to everyone.
Wellness and self-help apps are on the rise, and odds are, you’ve already considered using one (if you aren’t already). The self-help industry has exploded, with an estimated worth of 13.2 billion expected by 2022. Members of the baby-boomer generation have reported they do (or would) spend, on average, $150 a month on self-care, while millennials have reported they spend twice that amount on self-care products and services.
But do self-care apps work? A clinical study in June of 2019 followed users of a self-help app and found significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and stress. The goal of the study was to determine whether guided self-help (in the form of apps) worked. The study found that users experienced a “significant” decrease in anxiety, depression, and stress — not only during the study itself — but even after two months of follow-up after the study had ended.
Self-help apps have a proven positive effect on the mental well-being of those who try them — we’re going to walk you through the app and methods that improve your life romantically, spiritually, physically, and mentally.
SELF-CARE APPS IMPROVE YOUR LOVE LIFE
Eighty percent of those polled said romance was essential or extremely important. There are dozens (if not hundreds) of self-help apps offering romance advice, which can help anyone not only find the right person but also find the version of themselves that knows what they want in a partner.
Apps like Zodiac Touch connect you with actual people — psychic advisers who can listen to your romantic situation and provide you with hints about not only your future but also yourself. Do you find yourself repeating the same mistakes in relationships or being attracted to a type of person you’ve found harmful to you in the past? We’ve all been there, but sometimes it takes another person (at the other end of a self-care app) to help you notice your patterns and shake you out of them.
The benefit of using a self-care app for this is that you get to talk to a stranger, one who doesn’t come with the baggage or history of a friend or a family member. These psychic advisers can also use tarot cards, aura readings, and other psychic and magical methods to help you find the red string of your romantic fate.
Self-care apps can even help you find your zodiac match and warn you away from pairings that may turn out to be uphill battles.
APPS CAN ENRICH THE SPIRIT
Scientific studies have shown how spirituality can improve health and well-being — the studies even recommend that physicians try to learn about their patients’ spirituality to help them heal and recover. In fact, spirituality has increased across the board.
Unlike traditional organized religion, spirituality is often a solo journey of self-discovery and personal education. Self-help apps can help fill this role, providing spiritual guidance at any time from any device.
The ZodiacTouch app will help you explore the wide world of divination from dozens of different cultures and traditions. Delve into astrology with your horoscope and zodiac sign, or learn about palmistry and how the shape of your hand may reflect your elemental affinity. Dream interpretation will give you a better understanding of your own consciousness, while runestones and tea leaves can you give a glimpse at potential spiritual and physical roadblocks.
SELF-HELP APPS IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
We can work on our mental health and stability by incorporating self-care apps into our daily lives. And consider this: we’re busier, more stressed, and more burned out than we’ve ever been.
Fifty-six percent of adults with mental illness receive no treatment, and we’re all fighting rising levels of stress.
One way to tackle stress and improve mental health is to try meditation apps. Meditation is the art of mental centering, of being present in the moment, in your body — of turning off your mental engine and taking the keys out. Apps like Headspace and Calm do a great job of not only guiding you through different meditations but also keeping your meditation schedule on track and giving you nudges when it’s time.
Journaling is another effective tool for fighting stress, which is where apps like Reflectly come in. Reflectly is more than just a journaling app — it’s also a mood tracker. Reflectly will ask you how your day went and how you felt about it, and it will not only capture the entries you create but also tell you how your mood has changed over time. The app uses artificial intelligence to let you know if you’ve had a long stream of bad days or if your best days correspond with obvious patterns. There’s even a work-focused version of Reflectly that helps you create a work journal of accomplishments and growth opportunities, which can help battle workplace stress.
Of course, the mind and the body are equally important. As a wise man once said:
“If the mind, that rules the body, ever so far forgets itself as to trample on its slave, the slave is never generous enough to forgive the injury, but will rise and smite the oppressor.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Which basically means “when the mind thinks it’s the boss, the body will quickly correct that delusion.”
FITNESS APPS HELP YOU TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR BODY
Self-help apps can do more than just improve your mental state — they can help you cultivate a healthy body, which is just as important to your well-being overall.
In fact, there’s no need to try to separate the body from the mind at all. It takes only two hours of weekly exercise total to achieve massive, proven mental health benefits. Discovery breaks down the study's findings, showing that something as simple as doing chores can decrease your mental burden by 10%.
Freeletics is a self-care app for Android and iOS that helps you create a physical fitness regime that matches your needs. It helps schedule your exercises and coaches you through new training methods.
The mobile app MyFitnessPal helps you deal with the other side of physical fitness. They say “abs are made in the kitchen,” which is true of overall physical health. Even if you’re not interested in a six-pack, a healthy body creates a healthy mind. This self-care app has a huge database of recipes (both homemade and commercial), making it super easy to track your food. You can even scan barcodes on items and enter them into your personal food diary.
The app tracks all of your macronutrients as well, so no matter what kind of dietary restrictions you have, MyFitnessPal can help manage your diet.
SELF-CARE ISN'T SELFISH
Some people think of self-care as a luxury when, in fact, it’s a necessity. On an airplane, when the oxygen masks fall, you’re supposed to put one on yourself before you help others with their masks. It’s the same with self-care.
How can you be effective in your daily work and family routine when you’re overloaded with stress? How can you help others when you’re struggling with the grind? These self-care apps can help center all of us, making us healthier, happier, and more productive.
If you haven’t tried any of the apps we’ve mentioned, now’s the time to visit the App Store or Google Play to give your self-care regime a boost.
