Stress is a fact of life. Whether you’re a high-powered businessperson, a student with a full schedule or a stay-at-home parent, your day is likely to be full of a variety of different types of stresses. Health experts recognize that the inability to deal with normal stress can have a negative effect on both physical and mental health. They recommend that managing daily stress should be a regular part of every individual’s health maintenance routine.
Managing Stress Effectively
It’s often said, “stress is a killer,” and for good reason. Prolonged stress puts a strain on the heart, increases blood pressure, reduces your immune system function, leads to sleep problems, influences your mood and can even affect your interpersonal relationships. Unmanaged stress can cause a person to use alcohol or drugs to keep emotions under control, and this, in turn, can lead to problems with dependence and addiction. When you are struggling with anxiety, this breathing app for anxiety will help you in many ways.
Using Technology To Supplement Other Treatment Methods
Apps to manage stress can be a convenient way to carry helpful advice and encouraging words with you throughout the day. One of the first problems of being under stress is recognizing that it’s affecting you. With an app, you can immediately take a short break and do a bit of self-care. This can help to make you more productive in your work, calmer in your decision-making and more effective in your interactions with others. Although apps to manage stress cannot substitute for time spent in counseling for those who need it, they can be used as an adjunct to help you get through the day and prevent an unhealthy overload. Here are a few of the top apps that help people deal with stress.
Headspace App
Meditation is one of the easiest and most effective methods for dealing with stress. It combines active measures to calm the mind, along with breathing exercises that assist in settling down physical reactions. If you’ve never meditated before, this app provides a beginner course that will guide you through the process, with clear instructions and a number of meditation options. The app encourages mindfulness in daily activities, to reduce stress and improve focus. Headspace is available for Apple and Android.
The Mindfulness App
Mindfulness is a concept in which individuals use their minds to be fully present in the moment, instead of the usual busy thinking that often accompanies modern life. The skill of being mindful can be learned, to help dispel stress, improve mental focus and increase positivity and satisfaction. The Mindfulness app offers guided and unguided meditations that help you manage stress more effectively, reduce anxiety, increase concentration and improve sleep. It also has notifications and a timer for your meditations. The app can be downloaded to either Android or Apple devices.
Breathe2Relax
Breathing exercises can be the fastest and easiest way to quickly relieve stress during the day. This app allows users to take simple, relaxing breathing exercises along with them wherever they go. Explanations of how stress affects the body are included, along with detailed instructions on diaphragm breathing to control anger, manage mood and master PTSD symptoms. Available for Android and Apple platforms.
Fabulous
The Fabulous app is a daily routine planner, which makes it a good choice for those who are working on losing bad habits and learning new ones. It offers science-based advice on self-care and re-patterning that can be helpful for any person who is overcoming substance dependence or dealing with mental health issues. The app provides positive reinforcement and structured suggestions on replacing negative actions with self-care and energy-fostering activities. Fabulous is available for Android and Apple devices.
Happify
Maintaining a positive mental attitude can be challenging when you’re under a constant state of stress. The Happify app takes a scientific approach to improving outlook, so you can take control of your thoughts and emotions. The app attempts to quantify your current emotional state, and then provides a series of exercises with the goal of improving mood and positivity. Users find it helpful in dispelling negative thinking, in changing habits and allowing them to feel in better control of stressful events.
App developers are finding many ways to use technology to improve health and enhance quality of life. Whatever stresses you might face on a daily basis, you can find a number of apps that will help you to encourage a sense of inner peace, better self-control and increased positivity. These apps may not solve your problems or be equal to spending time with a counselor, but they can be used effectively whenever you need them, to keep you in a healthier and more productive frame of mind.
Sources
mayoclinic.org – Stress symptoms: Effects on Your Body and Behavior
interface.williamjames.edu – Use of Apps for Mental Health and Wellness
sunshinebehavioralhealth.com – Dual Diagnosis Treatment Programs
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – Do Mental Health Mobile Apps Work: Evidence and Recommendations for Designing High-Efficacy Mental Health Mobile Apps
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – Effectiveness of Using Mental Health Mobile Apps as Digital Antidepressants for Reducing Anxiety and Depression: Protocol for a Multiple Baseline Across-Individuals Design
Author Bio:
Dr. Harshi is a licensed medical doctor with a specialization in Pathology. She is currently employed as faculty in a medical school with tertiary care hospital and research center in India as well as a medical reviewer for Sunshine Behavioral Health. She has vast experience of over a decade in diagnostic, clinical, research, and teaching work. She has a strong interest in medical content writing and reviewing. She also has several publications and citations in indexed peer-reviewed journals.