DrChrono Blog

Meditation & Yoga Apps

There are two great meditation apps out, Headspace and Smiling Mind.

Smiling Mind and Headspace both have iPhone apps and websites that a patient can access.

Both of these apps are great for stress relief for people who would like to meditate. Headspace gives ten free sessions then you need to pay for more sessions and Smiling Mind allows you to access all the meditation sessions for free.

Headspace was established in May 2010, by Andy Puddicombe and Rich Pierson. Puddicombe is a former Buddhist monk. Smiling Mind is a completely free app founded by Jane Martino October 2012.

Check out this great video from Andy:

Another great app for Yoga is Yoga Studio. It is an iPad and iPhone app only, they don’t have a website, but you won’t need it since the app is really focused on the mobility. The app is a one-time purchase, but it’s well worth it if you like doing Yoga. There are so many different sessions in the app that the price is an excellent deal.  I highly recommend this app to anyone who’s looking to try Yoga or active in doing Yoga but looking for great instructional videos with step-by-step Yoga techniques and classes.

Workout Apps

Runtastic is another great app that I’ve used in the past for jogging sessions it tracks everything in and around running: miles, tracks times, best times and worse times and speeds.

There are other apps like Strava,  I hear great things about it for biking as well as running.

Two very focused iPhone apps that are great are Sit Ups Pro and Squats Pro. Both of these apps are very simple and have one focus which makes it simple and easy to use. The apps don’t confuse you with too many options. You know exactly what they do.

Do you have 7 minutes? There is a whole movement around 7-minute workouts, here are a few:

• 7 Minute Workout “Seven” with High Intensity Interval Training Challenge By Perigee
• 7 Minute Workout By Wahoo Fitness

In a short amount of time you can get a great workout in! These apps have great quick training sessions.

I also highly recommend this up though it is a little bit more intense and the meditation and yoga apps I recommended.

Sometimes you need to time a workout, one great app that I highly recommend is an app called Timer+, you can set a timer for how long you’re going to work out or howlongyou’re going to be jogging for, or whatever workout you’re doing. E.g.: Use Timer+ to time workout sessions say a 20-minute workout session or 30-minute workout session.

Weight and Calorie Apps

There are two great weight and calories apps. MyFitnessPal and LoseIt!. LoseIt! and MyFitnessPal are great for tracking your weight. LoseIt! also has a social network you can join for support. Both of the apps are free and have access via the web and iOS.

Health Journaling Apps

One of the best journaling apps for iOS and for Mac I’ve seen to document your day is an app called Day One. This app is iOS focused but also completely mac focused. I like this simple interface and how simplistic it is to journal daily from this app, it’s a great app for anyone who wants to journal daily about health and fitness progress.

Some of the apps above are connected directly to Apple’s Health which means that the data that you enter into the apps from sync into Apple’s Health. You can also sync this data into your personal health record. onpatient is an app that can take this data and share it with your physician if you so choose. onpatient also allows you to message with you physician, if you have a question about a medical bill, schedule an appointment or need a prescription refill try onpatient.

So if you want to track something and also have it in your personal health record you can now do that … and you can share that with you doctor.

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  <em>Article by <a title="Daniel Kivatinos" href="https://plus.google.com/+danielkivatinos/posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daniel Kivatinos</a>, COO and cofounder, <a href="https://drchrono.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">drchrono</a></em><br /> Daniel drives direction, brand vision, and business strategy for drchrono. Daniel’s focus has been in the technology space since 2001, as a software engineer and entrepreneur. Daniel holds an M.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Computer Science & Psychology from Stony Brook University.
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