6 mobile applications for a healthier life

Does your cell phone simplify your life or is it causing you a worrisome addiction? Does it bring you closer to those you love most or isolate you from the rest of the world? Does it help you achieve your goals or does it take you away from them?

At Zen to Go we want to see you healthy and happy, so today we'll talk about a topic that's extremely important to all of us: how to use mobile technology to play in our favor at all times, and not against us. 

To do this, the best thing you can do is install Apps that help you focus and eliminate those that only distract you and make you anxious about the accumulation of lost time. 

Let's see now some tips to detect if you need to start moderating the use of your cell phone and 6 free Apps of nutrition, exercise, hydration, sleep hygiene and productivity.

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The cell phone: a tool that can be a source of well-being or discomfort

If you identify with two or more of the following situations, it is likely that your cell phone is causing more problems than it is solving:

• You waste a lot of time scrolling on social networks.
• It's impossible for you to stop looking at any notification immediately.
• All your free time is dedicated to your cell phone.
• If you don't have your cell phone handy you feel anxious, bored and irritable.
• You can't help but see the phone even when you're having real social interaction.
• Staring at the phone for a long time is the last thing you do before you go to sleep.
• Notifications constantly distract you from your work and reduce your efficiency.
• What happens on your social networks affects you emotionally.

Did you come to the conclusion that your phone is taking away your peace of mind? Don't worry, there's no need to throw it out the window, it's just time to replace all those social networks and games with Apps to keep you healthy and productive. 

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5 wellness, health and productivity applications to improve your lifestyle

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1.- My Fitness Pal

You are what you eat, you know that. And if you want to know exactly how many calories and macronutrients you're consuming day in and day out, your best bet is this App, which is considered one of the most complete in terms of food control. Its database has the nutritional information of more than six million foods, and you can also directly scan the barcode of the products you eat, calculate the calories of a complete recipe, keep records of your weight and goals, etc. If you're looking to make a positive change in your diet, this App is definitely for you. 

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2.- Google Fit

When you are on the move and exercise daily, you drastically reduce the risk of overweight and cardiovascular disease. Google Fit is one of the top rated and most popular health apps in the world, helping you to increase your physical activity throughout the day in a friendly and efficient way by automatically tracking your progress and goals when you walk, run, bike, or take a Pilates class, for example. It also allows you to receive personalized workouts and connects to other health apps and devices such as smart watches. 

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3.- Apps to stay hydrated

Did you know that not drinking enough plain water is one of the triggers for many of the most common health problems? We usually have the bad habit of not consuming enough liquids and when we do, instead of drinking water we drink coffee, soda or juice, which takes away our thirst, but it really doesn't hydrate us properly. Some of the symptoms of chronic dehydration are

• Headache
• Lack of concentration and irritability
• Lack of energy and sleepiness
• Digestive problems
• Weight gain 
• Weakness of the immune system
• And a long etcetera.

But making a habit of drinking enough water is actually very simple and more so with a cell phone on hand. There are several applications such as H20 Reminder, Water Time and Watterlogged, among others, that will give you timely reminders and simple tips to stay properly hydrated all day. Just choose the one you like best. 

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4.- Sleep monitor

Lack of sleep is another of the great ills of modernity associated, among other things, with stress and the excessive use of technology. But there are many Apps designed to help you sleep better, and this one specifically stands out because it focuses on teaching you how your sleep cycle works, how to modify it naturally and what habits you should develop to get a good night's sleep. It also features a smart alarm clock, night cycle recorder and relaxing sleep sounds, among other features. 

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5.- Forest

One of the simplest but most efficient applications of productivity and work. How many times do we not interrupt some of our activities to check the cell phone? Forest is a tool that helps you stay away from temptation and is also friendly and fun to use. It is about "planting" virtual trees that take a certain time to grow (half an hour, one hour, two hours, etc) and during all that time, if you look at the cell phone, you will interrupt its growth and you will have to start again from scratch. 

The beauty of this application is that it takes advantage of the same mental mechanisms of motivation that keep us glued to the screen, but in reverse. Highly recommended if you need to focus and make better use of your time. 

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6.- Lojong 

It is scientifically proven that meditating, even for fifteen minutes each day, helps to decrease anxiety and depression levels. Here's the meditation app that scores highest on Google Play. Lojong owes its rapid popularity to the fact that it features step-by-step training to learn how to focus the mind on the here and now and exercise full attention, based on traditional and ancient practices. It is an intuitive, user-friendly and feature-rich tool that is available in the free version.

These are only six of the most popular tools, but consider that there are many more available and you only have to do a little research and try to find the ones that work best for your goals and the lifestyle you want. 

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An additional tip

Here's an additional tip: delete social networks and games -like Candy Crush- from your cell phone. The first two days will be hard, but by the third day you'll be grateful!