7 Wellness Apps That Will Help You Stay Positive and Engaged During Quarantine

We’re all socially isolating right now, and if you’re anything like me, you might be starting to feel a little restless. Being at home all the time and giving up your normal routine can leave you feeling off. Nowadays, however, we’re lucky that there are resources out there that we can access right from our phones to help us feel better instantly. 

The wellness industry is said to be worth over $4 trillion today, and with that has come major innovations in the way we understand and approach our health. When we’re talking about our personal “wellness,” we’re referring to our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being — and there are plenty of apps that can help us take care of ourselves in all these areas. 

In our typical hustle-and-bustle lives, it’s tough to really focus on any of these dimensions of wellness. But while we’re self-isolating, we have the perfect opportunity to slow down and cultivate a better well-being in all areas of our lives. Remember, self-care is important now more than ever. Putting in small daily efforts to take care of yourself on all levels can reap major rewards! Here are my favorite wellness apps I’m using to survive the quarantine, and why you should consider using them, too.

Calm App

Tensions are running high right now, so why not chill out a bit with the Calm app? Calm is a meditation app with short and long meditations for addressing everything from sleep trouble to poor self-esteem. The Calm app also includes a section for children’s meditations, so it’s perfect for getting the kids on the wellness wagon, too! Last but not least, one of the best features on the Calm app is Sleep Stories, where you can listen to bedtime stories told by hunks like Matthew McConaughey. 

The Calm app is available for free on android and IOS devices.

Headspace App

The Headspace app is another meditation app offering hundreds of guided meditations for managing stress and anxiety, sleep, productivity, exercise, and so much more! Now, the Headspace app even offers a feature called Move Mode designed to get you moving with short workouts that will help you align your body and your mind. While the Wake Up feature allows you to start your day with short, real-life stories and advice from experts that will keep you uplifted all day long.

The Headspace app is available for free on android and IOS devices.

Jour App

I might sound like a broken record talking about journaling for better mental and emotional health, but it’s worth another mention. Apps like the Jour app can help you work on your emotional state from the inside out. But don’t worry, you won’t have to fear the blank page. Each entry begins asking you how you’re feeling, and you’ll be prompted through the rest of your entry with questions that will h elp you to become more mindful of your emotions and what’s behind them. This app is one that I didn’t know how much I needed until I started using it!

The Jour app is available for free on android and IOS devices.

Down Dog

The Down Dog app provides a yoga practice for every need you could have, whether you’re trying to destress and decompress your body or work up a nice sweat. The app allows you to select your experience level, the amount of time you practice for (you can do a sequence as short as 10 minutes!), what type of yoga you want to practice (restorative yoga, vinyasa flow yoga, etc), and the music that plays in the background! 

Down Dog is currently offering a promotion for free sign-up until April 1 on Android and IOS devices! 

MinimaList 

Experts say that building a routine can help with mental health, and during a quarantine, this is more important than ever. The MinimaList app is just what it sounds like, an app for list-making in the most minimal way. No spreadsheets, no subcategories, no confusion — just straight, clean organization. 

Use the MinimaList app to create a morning routine or a bedtime routine, which you can set a scheduled reminder for. Make your lists only a few items long. For example, my morning routine list includes brushing my teeth, drinking a tall glass of water, meditating for 20 minutes, and then making a small breakfast. It helps me feel accomplished and like I’ve begun the day in a positive way. The routine also helps me avoid oversleeping or worse — staying in bed and scrolling on my phone!

The Minimalist app is available for free on android and IOS devices.

Way of Life

Do you find yourself falling into bad habits and struggling to adopt good ones? The Way of Life app is a habit-tracking app that allows you to identify unhealthy habits like eating fast food or not drinking enough water, while building habits you want to stick with. The easy-to-use interface allows you to identify trends in a way that motivates you to keep positive streaks going, all in under a minute a day. This app helped me get clear on my some of my eating habits and create better ones!

The Way of Life app is available for free on android and IOS devices.

Lumosity 

If you’re starting to feel like your brain is a little sleepy from staring at screens all day and not interacting with others as much, try to keep it active using a brain-training app like Lumosity. Basically, you play really fun phone games that are designed to train different brain functions like memory, attention, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving. Playing a few games a day can help to reawaken parts of your brain that might feel dormant right now!

The Lumosity app is available for free on android and IOS devices.