FROM THE EDITORS
Make Way for Your Mental Health
It’s always the right time to nourish your well-being. These apps help you connect with therapists, find supportive networks, and build positive routines.
Join the conversation
In his app, Ten Percent Happier, former Nightline coanchor Dan Harris has collected an extensive list of interviews and lessons from leading meditation practitioners including Sharon Salzberg, Sebene Selassie, and Joseph Goldstein. Follow the app’s curated courses or develop your own mindfulness practice with its guided meditations.
Real’s on-demand lessons, journal prompts, and self-care challenges on a range of topics help you reflect on your own mental health. But if you’re looking to take things a step further, try tuning in to group therapy sessions via video, hosted by therapists and experts in the field.
Let the music move you
In addition to meditations and inspiring audio tracks full of wisdom, Calm features a huge library of relaxing tunes and tales to help banish the day’s anxieties. Try a Sleep Story from artist Camila Cabello or Harry Styles—or snooze to the soothing lullabies of Soundscapes.
Check out original meditative pieces in Headspace and find playlists from the likes of composer Hans Zimmer and artist John Legend, designed to help you find focus. If you’re looking for more, try listening to the nature-inspired soundscapes on the Music tab.
Find your form of self-care
Created in partnership with Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight, Fabulous helps you forge healthy and lasting habits, whether it’s sleeping more soundly, staying focused, or simply appreciating yourself for who you are. Activities are all based on the latest behavioral science—and they’re really easy to do.
Self-care app Finch brings healthy habits to life thanks to a digital widget pet. The more you care for yourself, the more your pet will thrive. Check off goals to earn points that help you unlock adventures and accessories for your pet. Browse the app’s breathing exercises, focus timers, and soundscapes for extra self-care fun.
Talk with a therapist
BetterHelp and Talkspace lower the barrier to talk therapy—and make it easy to fit sessions into even the busiest schedule. The apps pair you with a licensed therapist you can write to (or share an audio or video message with) whenever you like. Live video and phone sessions are also available.
Write your emotions
Day One is a powerful journaling app that goes beyond basic “Dear diary” entries: Your reflections can include photos, audio, sketches, and other digital ephemera. Have a quick thought you want to jot down? Send it as a text message right to the app.
How We Feel makes tracking your emotions incredibly easy. Use the visually pleasing graphics to choose the emotions that best describe you, and add notes, photos, or voice notes to document your current feelings. Plus, you can log who you’re with or whether you’ve had sleep to paint a more holistic picture of how your habits impact your mood.
Move through life with mindfulness
This encyclopedic meditation app has sessions geared to just about everything—stress reduction, relationship building, self-care, and more. You can also join workshops and live events with Insight Timer’s mindfulness experts or host your own meditation group.
Connect with others who understand your experience in Untangle Grief’s community—or browse the app’s resources that help you understand how grief impacts us physically and emotionally.
Go for a walk
Nothing quiets the mind like a stroll in nature. With its crowdsourced and expertly annotated maps, AllTrails helps you discover over 200,000 hiking trails, bike paths, and parks. (One might be closer than you think.)
Sometimes we need an extra push to step away from our screens and unplug to protect our mental health. NatureDose is a great solution. The app monitors your time outside and encourages you to soak in all the benefits nature has to offer. You can also set goals for getting outdoors.
Focus on your breath
Connect with your breath and declutter your mind with Breathwrk, which guides you through simple but effective breathing exercises for focus, sleep, stress relief, and more. It pairs meditative sounds with haptic feedback and engaging visuals designed to help you zero in on your breath and your mental health goals.
Rootd helps you handle anxiety and panic attacks as they happen (all you need to do is push the big red button and the app will guide you through mindfulness prompts designed to restore a sense of calm). With the Breathr tool, you can practice daily deep breathing exercises that’ll help you self-soothe during periods of stress.