Top 5 Stress Management Apps for Your Smartphone

Stress is a major factor in everybody’s life. Therefore, managing stress is an important skill that everyone needs to learn. Fortunately, you can learn this skill through apps. Here are 5 stress management apps that you can use:

Breathe2relax

This app was developed for veterans to help them manage anxiety connected to stress and trauma. Here are its features:

To get started, you will have to watch a video illustrating how to do diaphragmatic breathing. After this, you will engage in completing a guided relaxation task which includes a visual timer and audio guidelines to help you maintain steady and deep breathing. Prior and after the task, you have the option of finding out the level of your stress which is recorded over a period of time and put on a chart.

This app also offers information on stress through articles and videos on its impacts on the mind and body, and the effects of diaphragmatic breathing on the body. Additionally, it contains a “body scanner” which helps you find out the impact of stress on any part of the body. Simply tap a part of the body and find out how stress affects it. The app also provides information on every day wellness tips that cover everything connected to health.

This app does not have a user friendly screen. It has a low resolution and visually unpleasant color unpleasant which become worse as screen size reduces. Additionally, there is lack of interactive exercises and proper instructions to help users with the breathing task. However, users can customize the length of breathing in and out and other features.

All the educational materials given in this app are accurate. However, the app has not undergone clinical trials. Therefore, while deep breathing has been used to decrease stress in many cases, it is uncertain whether this app will offer the same effects

The cons

The app constantly lags and sometimes crashes.
The app does not suggest how often it should be used. For instance, it does not say whether it should be used every morning and evening before sleeping.

This is a free app that is available for Android and iOS.

Pacifica

This app aims at helping people manage depression, stress, and anxiety based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), relaxation, health, and mindfulness. This app has the following features:

In order to get started, users are asked to rate their mood on a 7-point scale. Every point of the scale is connected to programmed descriptions or you can make your own descriptors. There is also the option of using a journal of events related to the present mood rating. Once you have described your mood rating, you are asked how you want to deal with it. You will be given four activities to choose from: meditations, thoughts, relaxation, and goals.

The option to meditate entails taking an easy breathing exercise. This option is available in the free version. The thoughts and relaxation options are available in the subscription version.

The goals activity involves choosing a therapeutic goal from a list and rating the probability of achieving it. The app will track your progress towards achieving the goal you choose.

The thoughts activity involves recording the thoughts related to your present mood rating. This is followed by assessing these thoughts and challenging them in a self-directed way.

The relaxation option entails breathing tasks in the free version. To undertake the relaxation of the muscles, soundscape, and visualization, a subscription is needed.

Additionally, you can track data by utilizing 16 groups of health connected behavior such as water consumption and exercise.

The cons

The CBT principle is not properly structured.
Requires subscriptions to access all the features.
This app is available for Android and iOS.

GPS for the Soul

This app will help you rediscover your inner harmony and become in tune with yourself. Here are its features:

One the app is installed, you will see three options: find a guide, meditate, and create a guide. These guides are there to help you relax, reenergize, and restructure your thoughts. Every guide has a unique theme. These guides come with slides containing quotes and images. The app also allows you to make your own guides. If you choose the meditation option, you will be able to time it and create a meditation reminder.

This app also features articles, yoga, breathing exercises, and meditation.

The cons

It is not clear what you should do with the guides.
The meditation feature lacks a sound to indicate that the session is complete.
The music used in the app may not be relaxing for everyone.

This app is available for Android and iOS.

Happify

As the name suggests, this is an app that is supposed to make you happier. Here are its features:

The app contains tracks that are supposed to help improve your skills on finding happiness. The process is based on these principles: give, savor, thank, empathize, and aspire.
For instance, if you choose the option of defeating negative thoughts, you will undertake exercises and play balloon game. This game entails tapping positive balloons with words such as kind and ignoring those with words such as sigh. The games in this app are based on Science.
The app is also based on the hedonic treadmill idea which means the point at which you have set your happiness.
This app has both free and subscription versions

Headspace

This app helps you learn breathing and visualization related to secular meditation. Here are its features:

A 30 day guided meditation free starter-pack.
Requires a subscription to access other exercises.
Various pack to pick from.
Exercises under every pack.
Provides stats of your progress.
It is user friendly.

Author's Bio

I am Jean Phillipe, a technology manager and I run my own website. LeMeilleurAvis is a website that I use to review various products with no bias. The products I review vary from all brands and types and I give my recommendations as well as best prices for each product. It is important to help one release stress in today's world. A good stress management app can help you do this wherever you are.