Best Apps to Help with Your Health Goals in 2021

When it comes to your health, keeping track of what you plan to do and what you actually accomplish can go a long way toward ensuring your success. Your smartphone can be a tremendously useful tool for monitoring your progress toward your goals with the help of smartphone apps.

What's an App?

An app is an "application," that is, a computer program, designed to be run on your phone. Apps can also be run on pads, laptops, smartwatches, smart TVs, and other Internet-connected devices. You usually have to use an Internet connection to download an app, but you don't need Internet access to run it.

There are tens of thousands of apps for tens of thousands of applications, but you don't need to get into anything complicated with apps to enhance your health. Here are some of our best suggestions for easy to use apps that can help you meet your health goals.

Exercise Apps to Keep You on Track for Your Goals

Just about every patient at our clinics is encouraged to exercise. The tricky thing about exercise, even simple things like how far you really walk every day, is that we all tend to believe we are getting more exercise than we really are. There are apps that can help you stay on course for your exercise goals, like these:

• Most newer phones come with an app that counts your steps — for free. If your doctor has told you to try to do more walking to help with a vein problem, these apps can tell you if you are doing enough.
• Noom is a weight loss coaching app that teaches new ways of thinking about food, a great guide in helping an individual make healthier food choices. 
• If you have food intolerances, MySymptoms is a log where you record your food and any symptoms. It helps identify food intolerances so that you can identify triggers, modify your diet and feel better. 
• Runkeeper is a step above step-counting apps, providing you with audio feedback on how much exercise you have done and providing graphs of your progress. There are free and paid versions of this app.
• When UnderArmour started facing intense competition in the sportswear business, it got into the apps business. MapMyFitness is an app by UnderArmour that can keep track of how far you walked, how far you biked, how many laps you swam, how many stairs you climbed, and how much weight you lifted. It can automatically link to MyFitnessPal, which keeps track of your salt and saturated fat consumption. At the time this article is being written, MVP membership costs $5.99 per month.
• Are you on Medicare? Silver Sneakers GO offers the coaching you can't easily get at a gym on your phone at home. It has programs for walking, strength building, and flexibility, as well as special programs for lower back problems and hips. It will also remind you when it's time to exercise. Silver Sneakers GO is free.
• Struggle with sleep apnea? Ox Vibe is a personal health application used with Ox Vibe sleep & fitness monitor. You can use it to download, review and share your sleep & fitness data. Simply search for it on your app store. 
• Sleep Cycle analyzes your sleep patters and detects snoring, sleep talking, coughing and other sounds. It's alarm clock will gently wake you up and then it will give you a detailed analysis on your bedtime patterns. Sleep Tracker is another option. 
• Fitbit tracks steps, hourly activity, heart rate, sleep patterns and more. It's a great overall app for health tracking. 

Stressed Out? Try a Meditation App

If you watch TV, chances are you have seen a take-15-seconds-to-be-calm commercial. Actually, Calm is an app for guided meditation sessions of 3 to 25 minutes to help you deal with specific health and wellness issues such as Breaking Habits, Calming Anxiety, Concentration, Deep Sleep, Focus, Forgiveness, Happiness, Managing Stress or Self-Esteem. 

Calm shows up on your phone in a format that looks a lot like a game. There's a free introductory version, and also a $14.99 a month version that gives you access to a new program every day, and also breathing exercises, 100 Sleep Stories, relaxing nature sounds like the ones you hear in the commercials, and more.

Headspace advertises itself as a “gym membership for the mind." Their program takes 10 minutes a day for 10 days to help you sleep better by clearing your head, reducing stress, and enjoying life more. It has an optional buddy system if you want to share your goals with your spouse, a friend, or a family member. It's available for Apple, Android, and Amazon devices. Headspace costs $12.99 a month or $94.99 per year. It has an SOS function for panic attacks

If you can get moving and you can control stress, you can go a long way toward reaching any health goals, but health apps don't stop there. There are apps for grocery shopping, recipes, nutrition, tai chi, and yoga. There are even apps that can analyze your food's nutritional content just by scanning it, but it's best to start with the basics. Get the hang of using one app to improve your health, then try more! 

Have an app that you like? Let us know in the comments section! I'd love to share it with my patients and friends. 

And, remember that your friends at Missouri Vein Care are always here to help and provide some helpful suggestions when it comes to your health goals.