You know for a fact that staying healthy is not only having a healthy breakfast (Nasi Lemak and Teh Tarik will suffice), and getting a few laps each day. It entails more than that. In fact, you need all the help you can get in terms of getting to your goal.
Technology and Health – Perfect combination
Thank goodness for technology, things have been quite different these days. You no longer need to rely on just machines to help you achieve good health. You have technology that keeps track of your progress. Enter the world of Mobile Applications. If you haven’t already done so, you should by now although you might not want to spend too long glaring at the digital screens.
In fact, staying healthy is among the top new year resolution in the world recently which recorded over 60 million searches in Google during the new year. So, where should you start? Start thinking about which app you should have.
Home Workouts
This is one of the top health mobile apps downloaded in Malaysia. Designed to give you a holistic workout regime, it covers all your main muscles and keeps track of your progress too. This app is perfect for Malaysians who are shy to go to the gym and gives you the liberty to work out from home.
If you are looking for the app that tracks your body’s workout, this is the one. After all, the workouts are easy and very quick, designed by qualified fitness instructors. Better still, you do not need any equipment!! All you need is your smartphone, download the app and you are ready to go!
Fitbit the leader
Fitbit is so popular for a specific reason. It is the most downloaded app in the health category. This is of course attributed by the fact that it is free for download. In doing so, it has been hugely successful in collecting data. Recently Fitbit announced that they have accumulated almost:
- 100 billion hours of heart-rate data
- about 5 billion nights of sleep
- more than 150 billion minutes of exercises
- more than 85 trillion steps
Imagine that! they have sold more than 3.5 million although they are facing a lot of competition from many other brands as health-consciousness become more popular.
My Fitness Pal
This app is by renowned fitness brand Under Armour. They bought over the app in 2015. Since then, it has been climbing up the charts and is currently the second in the list. With more than 200 million registered users in its database, it has an impressive collection of foods that let users count their calories. It let you track your calories of what you are eating and is considered as the world’s largest in this context.
Period Tracker
This app is among the top in more than 43 countries. There are more than 70 million Android downloads alone which gives you the picture of how popular this is. For women, this app is perfect because it not only keeps track of your menstrual cycles but ovulation and even good for those with irregular cycles. Losing weight, staying healthy are all part of parcel of this app and comes with a pill reminder too. Other records include BMI, sexual activity and even your cervical mucus. With Google data backup, you won’t lose your record with this app even when you change your phone or device. Great for family planning and such. Basically, this app is your personal period journal!
Flo Period and Ovulation Tracker
This is one for the ladies. As you would know by its name, it helps with menstruation and ovulation cycles. There are a lot of countdown apps in the market but this app takes the notch higher by incorporating artificial intelligence in its own ways. It can be a tool that helps to track cycles and symptoms and to integrate menstruation with your daily life. It helps in family planning and used as a contraceptive.
Calm
What makes this app so impressive is that it was downloaded (for free) up to 30,000 daily at average in 2017 alone. As the name implies, it helps in relaxation and meditation. The main app is free for download but comes with other accompanying products like Calm Sleep Mist and Calm Book and is the brainchild of Michael Acton-Smith and Alex Tew.
Headspace
This app is very much into meditation and relaxation which means it is like Calm. In fact, they are both in the same category, Andy Puddicombe, one of the founders have been hugely successful as a meditation guru and this app has been very successful being used as a productivity aid in corporate companies that include Unilever, Aetna, Spotify, Airnbnb and Google.