KUALA LUMPUR: Today, October 10, is World Mental Health Day and what better way to support this global awareness programme by taking care of your mental health and wellbeing.
In supporting this programme, targeted at youth this year, Apple shares some easily accessible and practical tools which can play a part in how the youth of Malaysia, and people of all ages, can lead more mindful, happy and resilient lives.
While a good mental health can be achieved via various means, Apple is banking on its Apple Watch and its apps as a platform for people live more mindfully. Besides that, there is also an abundance of apps available on App Store where people can learn strategies to improve sleep, manage stress and reduce anxiety.
Here are 8 of the Apple Watch and iPhone features that can help you achieve mental health and wellbeing.
1. Breathe: Quiet your mind and relax your body with Breathe app. Timely reminders will help you practice mindfulness every day through short deep-breathing exercise to help better manage everyday stress. Gentle taps and a beautiful animation make it easy to follow along and provide a moment of calm throughout the day. It’s now available as a watch face, so you can bring focus to your day just by raising your wrist.
2. Notifications: Constant notifications can bring additional stress to an already busy day. The watchOS 5 brings a number of improvements to make notifications more meaningful, more actionable, and easier to manage, so you can get the information you need when you need it. With third-party notifications, you can now use interactive controls right from within the notification without needing to launch the app. Managing notification preferences is easier too. Right from the control centre on your watch, turn on Do Not Disturb for a specified amount of time to enjoy some quiet time without notifications.
3. Omvana: Omvana is your personal meditation and mindfulness teacher. More and more evidence proves that meditation has many benefits like increased happiness, better sleep, healthier lifestyles and decreased stress levels to name a few. With the largest collection of meditations, Omvana can help you with whichever area of your life you'd like to improve. It also connects with HealthKit to help you remain calm and composed throughout your day by recommending to you meditations based on your stress levels and your state of mind. (https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/omvana-meditation-for-all/id595585396?mt=8)
4. Calm: Join the millions experiencing lower stress, less anxiety, and more restful sleep with our guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programmes, masterclasses, and relaxing music. Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes so you can choose the perfect length to fit with your schedule. (https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/calm/id571800810?mt=8)
5. Insight Timer: Join millions learning to meditate on Insight Timer to help calm the mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, sleep deeply and improve happiness. Guided meditations and talks led by the world’s top mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists and meditation teachers from Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth and the University of Oxford. With 10+ new free guided meditations added daily, more meditation is practiced on Insight Timer than anywhere else. (https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/insight-timer-meditation-app/id337472899...)
6. Aura: Calm Anxiety & Sleep: Aura: Reduce stress & anxiety, improve focus, and sleep better using daily mindfulness meditations, life coaching, stories, and music. All personalized to you based on your mood. Do you wish to control your stress and anxiety better? Are you seeking more positivity? Have you tried other mindfulness meditation apps but couldn't form a habit around them? It’s time to try Aura, the simplest solution to reducing stress and increasing positivity through 3-minute meditations. Aura provides short and sweet, personalized mindfulness meditations, life coaching, stories, and music whenever you need to make you happier. Listen to guided meditations depending on how you feel, or enjoy sounds of nature. Start your journey to control your stress and anxiety with Aura. (https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/aura-calm-anxiety-sleep/id1114223104?mt=8)
7. Headspace: Guided Meditation: Headspace is the simple way to reframe stress. Relax with guided meditations and mindfulness techniques that bring calm, wellness and balance to your life in just a few minutes a day. Plus, we have meditations on sleep to help you create the ideal conditions for a good night’s rest. Get more from your day through mindfulness, be less distracted and reactive, and focus on the things that matter most to you. Our Basics course is completely free and will teach you the fundamental techniques of meditation and mindfulness. After that, by subscription, gain access to the full Headspace meditation library. Train your mind with guided meditations on everything from managing stress and anxiety, to getting a better night’s rest, to relationships. Bring more awareness to daily activities through on-the-go exercises, and use SOS sessions to skillfully manage moments of panic or anxiety. And at night, our new sleep experience (which includes sleep sounds and meditations) can help you get the rest you deserve. The Headspace animation library is full of tips and helpful wisdom to keep your practice on track, and you can even add friends to keep each other motivated. (https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/headspace-guided-meditation/id493145008?...)
8. AutoSleep Tracker for Watch: Automatically track your sleep from your Apple Watch. No buttons to press. Using Advanced Heuristics AutoSleep works out how long you've slept so you don't have to, allowing you to plan your sleep more thoughtfully throughout the week.
(https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/autosleep-tracker-for-watch/id1164801111...)