5 Apps You Need To Download To Calm Down
With the click of a button, you can start to feel more centered in no time.
by Rachel Linder
When you started the search for things to try to cope with anxiety, I bet you never thought your phone would have the answer, but believe it or not, there’s an app for that. In fact, there isn’t just one app, but there are lots of them. These apps that you can quickly download on your phone and carry with you wherever you go, could be essential in helping you to start to incorporate mindfulness into your routine.
For those who don’t know, and a refresher for those who do, mindfulness is a form of meditation that has a direct impact on minimizing feelings of stress and anxiety in the body. According to the Mayo Clinic, practicing mindfulness can include anything from various breathing exercises to exploring guided imagery and much more. And mindfulness doesn’t just help those with anxiety or stress, but it has also shown through various studies to be extremely beneficial for those with depression, insomnia or even high blood pressure. So, if you’re looking to give a mindfulness app a try, these are a few of our favorites.
One of the reasons Calm is one of the top-rated mindfulness apps out there (and why we love it so much) is because it customizes recommendations to your particular goals. Everything from reducing anxiety or stress to building self-esteem or even sleeping better, this app truly gives you the tools to do it all. Although it’s free to download and comes with a 7-day trial, it costs $70 annually to gain access to all of the unbelievable content they have to offer.
We can thank ABC News Anchor, Dan Harris for this one. The name of this app matches Harris’ book by the same name that follows his journey after a panic attack and what ultimately led him to believe in the benefits of mindfulness. The app, in a similar vein, works to show even the skeptics how helpful meditation and practical teachings can be. This app costs $100 annually after a 7-day free trial, but trust us the improvements you will feel as a result of these lessons are priceless.
The Insight Timer app boasts over 70,000 free meditations on their app. Yes, you read that right, this app is actually free. Not only does the app offer live meditation sessions with popular instructors, but there are also tons of meditations that you can do at any time. You can filter within the app by the time you have to spend, the benefits you’re looking to gain or even using one of their “kits” which give you a lineup of sessions that fit under a certain headline—sort of like a music playlist, but for meditation. We absolutely love these “kits”, and some of our favorites include “Coping with Anxiety”, “For Your Mornings” and “Mindfulness at Work”. And like we said, it’s FREE, so there’s no reason not to try this one out.
With over 70 million downloads and 4.9 star average rating, Headspace has meditation sessions that range from only a few minutes to an hour in length, so there is truly something for everybody. Not only does this app have guided meditations, but it also provides unique articles, videos and animations that allow you to continue learning about yourself and your mental health. Headspace is $12.99 a month, but does include a 7-day free trial as well.
We fell in love with this app because it really proves that no matter how busy you are, there is always time for meditation. Fitting meditation into your day like this could seem difficult when there are so many other things to do, but Simple Habit shows us that with just 5 minutes, you can have a productive meditation session. Most of the meditations on this app are extremely short—we’re talking 5, 10 or 20 minutes in length. You can definitely manage that. This app is $12 a month after a 7-day free trial.