This blog comes in the form of a list, in which I share some of my favourite smartphone apps. Let's get right down to it.
Food and Nutrition
CRON-O-Meter (Website = free; Android = $2.99; Apple = $3.99).
CRON-O-meter is more than just a diet-tracking app, though it is a good one at that. However, what makes this website so awesome is the fact that it breaks down all the macro- and micro-nutrient value of the food you eat. It shows how much of your recommended daily intake (RDI) of fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals you have reached. It also breaks down how much of each of the 20 proteins you are getting to make sure you are getting enough of each. For vegetarians and vegans keeps track of vitamin B12, calcium and iron, which some find challenging in meeting nutritional adequacy for those types of diets.
This website/app is so important because 6 in 10 Canadians have energy intake that exceeds their energy needs while another 25% have fat intake above the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range. Additionally, many adults have inadequate intake of calcium, vitamin A, magnesium and vitamin D, as well as with potassium and fibre.
Fitness
Cardio is important. This is not a revolutionary thought, we’ve been hearing it all our lives. In short, regular physical activity boosts the immune system and helps prevent a plethora of diseases including heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true...and also sometimes really hard to motivate yourselves to do. Apparently, it’s also hard for me to pick only one app for this section so I gave you a few different ones:
MapMyRun / MapMyFitness (Free)
MapMyRun is my personal preference for a run tracking app. Able to share your stats with friends, join existing run challenges created by the likes of Under Armor or make your own run challenge between you and your friends.
This free app is all about tracking your distance, pace, calories, elevation and nutrition for the day. It gives estimation on how much water you should be drinking and how much you should try to eat.
Even if running isn’t your thing it always you to track your dog walks, jogs and cycling. You can keep workouts private or share them online. It gives you your stats every mile or kilometer to keep you updated on how your run is going as well.
Nike + Training Club (Free)
This is a handy fitness app that is free for both Android and Apple. It offers more than 100 workouts designed by fitness trainers for people of all fitness levels. You are initially asked what level of training you have been completing recently, and then the app automatically selects some of the popular workouts for your level. This makes it easy to select a workout quickly, as well as makes it easy to choose between their seemingly endless options. If you don't want to choose a pre-selected workout you can peruse their many options by selecting a goal. Choose between getting toned, getting lean, and getting strong. From here you can choose between beginner, intermediate, or advanced settings with different lengths of workouts at each level. You can also choose workouts within the get focused setting, which are 15 minute workouts that target specific areas.
If you would like to create a workout program for yourself this app allows for your choice of rest days, types of workouts, and length of workout. Even better, each exercise within the workout comes with its own well shot video tutorial so that anyone can perform each exercise with confidence.
Depending on the workout, you may require to have some equipment at hand. Often times you’ll need a yoga mat, dumbbells, a resistance band and sometimes an exercise ball, stability ball and jump rope. The workouts will list the equipment requirements prior to starting so that you know if you are prepared or not.
All in all, this app helps to beat the workout boredom that can sometimes come with working out at home. It keeps things fresh and challenging.
Sleep
This can be one of the most overlooked aspects of health. Sleep plays an important role in the regenerative process following injury. For adolescents, sleep plays an important role in brain maturation while lack of sleep has its greatest negative effects on behaviour, emotion and attention. Also, the most obvious direct health consequence of insufficient sleep are high risk behaviours associated with substance abuse and automobile accidents.
SleepBot (Free)
This is my personal favourite, plus it’s free while Sleep Cycle is another sleep-tracking app that costs $0.99. These apps have two purposes. First, they record information about your sleep cycle each night like how long you’ve slept, & tracks your movement to determine sleep quality. SleepBot will even record sounds so you can finally answer the question “do you snore/talk in your sleep”
The second function is an intelligent and personal alarm clock. By monitoring your movement during sleep, it’ll wake you during your lightest state of sleep. This way you won’t have as hard of a time waking up and thus feel less fatigued and groggy.
Having used the app, I do feel I have an easier time waking up in the morning, though I still need more first cup of coffee before I’m ready to start treating patients. Plus, by the app tracking sleep patterns it helps identify reasons why you aren’t sleeping well during some nights and then allows you to fix the problem.
Brain
As we age, it is important to remember that our brain is just like any other system in our body and needs attention. One of the best ways to remain cognitively "sharp" is to exercise our mind. This includes training our brain or learning something new, whether that be a language or instrument, just to give a few ideas. Below I name two apps that have benefits for the brain.
Duolingo is a great (and free) app that will help you learn a second language. It makes the learning fun and easy and utilizes many different ways in order for you to retain the lessons. I used it to learn Dutch, but you can learn a myriad of others including French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc.
Why do I recommend learning a new language even if you aren't planning to go vagabonding or take up residence in a new country? Well it's because learning a new language has proven benefits including improvements in intelligence, memory, concentration and lowered risk of dementia and Alzheimer's.
Lumosity (Free) is another option for benefiting your mental health from a cognitive standpoint. Not only does this app allow you train your brain as they like to say, but recent research has suggested it can help identify mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. It is also important to not that Lumosity is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, however the research does show that it produced greater improvement in speed of processing, short-term memory, working memory, problem-solving and reasoning.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation has been linked to a whole host of health benefits for a number of years, but modern research has finally caught up. We now have an insight as to how the brain changes from mindfulness can impact our overall health. I'm going to be a little vague in this regard for now since this will be the topic of an upcoming blog, so I'll just say that adults who practice this have reduced levels of inflammation, which is linked to inflammation-related diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's and autoimmune conditions.
Headspace is a meditation and simple-guided mindfulness app that helps to relax individuals, especially for sleep which we have already learnt is so important. It is free for both Android and iPhones for it's basic package, whereas a subscription is required to access it's full collection. It helps with everything from stress reduction, creativity and happiness, and has even drawn rave review from Harry Potter's brainy best friend Hermione Granger (Emma Watson)!
Bonus
CCA’s Straighten Up Canada - This is the last app I'll mention and it is a little self-serving since it's designed by the Canadian Chiropractic Association. Notwithstanding, it's a great app that is a free, easy-to-perform posture program that can be used just three minutes a day. Though posture tends to be an overused reason for low back pain, and neck pain, the app does help to improve spinal health by addressing spinal flexibility, help with office ergonomics and help prevent some back aches.
References
Alladi S, et al (2013). Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia independent of education and immigration status, Neurology 81(22): 1938-44
Creswell JD, et al (2012). Mindfulness-based stress reduction training reduces loneliness and pro-inflammatory gene expression in older adults: a small randomized controlled trial, Brain Behav Immun 26(7): 1095-101
Dahl RE, Lewin DS (2002). Pathways to adolescent health sleep regulation and behavior, Journal of Adolescent Health 31 175-84
Hardy JL, et al (2015). Enhancing cognitive abilities with comprehensive training: a large, online, randomized, active-controlled trial, PLoS ONE 10(9)
Health Canada (2012). Do Canadian adults meet their nutrient requirements through food intake alone? Canadian Community Health Survey
Morrison GE et al. (2015). Reliability and validity of the NeuroCognitive Performance test, a web-based neuropsychological assessment, Frontiers in Psychology
Stampfer MJ, et al. (2000). Primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women through diet and lifestyle, New England Journal of Medicine 343(1): 16-22