Lockdown has been a very weird time – here are six apps that have helped keep my mental health in check during quarantine.
With lockdown slowly starting to ease up, I’ve been thinking back to the previous two or three months and wondering how the f*ck I survived it all!
Overall, I’ve been okay, once I got used to the situation. At first, everything felt really weird, but once I found my stride, I began to enjoy part of my time off and use it to my advantage. However, there was – and still is – odd days where I still feel pretty lost and unsettled about it all.
There have been various factors that have helped me stay relatively sane since lockdown – my boyfriend, things to do around the house, talking to my friends and family and exercise. There have also been a few apps that have gone hand in hand with these points – so I wanted to share with you six helpful apps I’ve relied on during lockdown – in case you might need an extra helping hand right now too.
For Meditation | Serenity
I’m still a newbie to meditation, so wasn’t too keen on spending money for a subscription on Headspace (although I have heard great things about it). I decided to give the app Serenity a go as I enjoyed the simple interface and guided meditations – which have, honestly, made a big difference to my day when I remember to use it. What I like about the app is that it includes challenges and stats, prompting you to ensure you use it every day. This may not work for everyone – and sometimes it does feel like I’m meditating for the sake of completing the daily habit – but at least it gets me doing it.
My only small issue would be that with the free version, you have to pay for short daily practices – and short daily practices are something I’d like to eventually move towards doing. However, there’s plenty you get for free: if you’re more experienced, every day unlocks a mini-meditation you can do. The guided meditations I have gotten the most use out of though; there are five levels of foundation meditations and then you have the option of advanced meditations and then exercises for sleep, stress relief, kids, self, health and fitness, social, quick meditations, work or basic. It’s easy to use and the elements of different levels are what encourages me to pick it up daily and use it.
For Fitness | Backstage by Pound
For the first time ever, I’ve realized just how helpful keeping fit has been in terms of helping me start my day better and feel better about myself. I’ve always been aware of the effect working out has had on my mind, but being stuck at home all day every day has really honed in how important fitness is when it comes to mental health. I jumped onto Pound Fit’s #TourToSummer last month and felt a huge difference in myself when challenging myself to 15 minutes of movement every single day.
Most days I switched between a free 15-minute workout on their website, using a free trial of the BACKSTAGE by POUND app and using their DVDs that I’d purchased a few years ago. I absolutely love Pound for an all-over workout, and will definitely be subscribing to full access of the app. You will, of course, have to purchase your own Ripstix to continue on with the workouts if you love them, but if you’re just trying it out, any pair of drumsticks will do. It’s definitely a little different, but if standard workouts bore you or make you lost motivation, definitely give it a go. It’s so much fun that it won’t feel like a workout.
Read more: 5 reasons to try Pound Fitness
For Overall Goals | Fabulous
This app takes a little getting used to – but I’ve really been enjoying the Fabulous app. Rather than just listing habits like other habit trackers, this app works with you to achieve your long-term goals, such as creating a morning routine (with breathing exercises or meditation), drinking more water or practising gratitude. It means there are more steps than just marking off what you do, so at first, it can seem like a bit of unnecessary faff, but if you’re willing to stick to it and make using it part of your daily routine, it’s actually a really nice way to start your day.
You also get plenty of cute affirmations once you tick things off, and you can gradually build it up from starting with just drinking a glass of water three mornings a week to an entire routine which also includes a breathing exercise, a bit of yoga etc – and then eventually an evening routine too. If you find the method of winding down in the evenings or planning your days out to be relaxing, you’ll enjoy this app.
For Fun | Stardew Valley
Sometimes you just need to ignore everything that’s going on around you and indulge in something super relaxing and fun for yourself. This is where Stardew Valley comes in. I’ve talked about this game a lot already so I’ll keep this short and sweet, but essentially it’s a really sweet simulation role-playing video game (available on all platforms: I particularly love playing it on my phone as I can pick it up and play it everywhere!) which is loosely based around farming. Farming is the main aim of the game to make money, but it also consists of creating relationships with the townsfolk (you can go on to get married and have children), helping out around the community by completing fun tasks, fighting monsters in the mines and more.
What’s super relaxing about it though is that every 28 days in-game, the season changes. So you can wake up on a snowy day and spend your day fishing, or in the spring you’ll find beautiful petal leaves falling around you. There are also rainy days, which has the most relaxing background sound as you play. The game has been praised for how great it is for mental health but also how diverse it is too. If I remember rightly, it costs £8.00 to download but is worth every penny. I rarely ever pay for apps/games on my phone!
Read more: My Stardew Valley Review
For Mood Tracking | Daylio
I’ve used the Daylio app for years now – in fact, I’m on a 723-day streak! This super basic app has the loveliest interface and simply prompts you once a day to tick what you’ve been up to and how you’re feeling. That’s it. It takes only a minute of your time, but you can add additional notes and add your own moods/mood types – so I have the general tasks and I’ve also added a group of ‘Get Your Shit Together’ like completing an evening routine, eating healthy or working out – which works as a habit tracker too. It also has a stats tab that shows you a mood chart, which activities line up with your good moods, bad moods etc and a really nifty year in pixels.
It’s my favourite mood tracker I’ve come across not just because of how easy it is to use but also because how pretty it is to view my year in pixels too! You can also change colours/theme – I love my sunset theme. As you can see above – green days are my best ‘rad’ days and light red is ‘meh’. Dark red is bad..and so far this year, I’ve mostly had rad days! A few ‘meh’ days but never a full on bad day..!
For Focus | Forest
Whether you’re working from home or just wanting to spend your days doing something productive; Forest is a lifesaver. This app helps you stay focused by planting virtual trees and flowers one at a time onto a square of green – and forcing you to put your phone down for set amounts of time. A small bush may start with a 10-minute timer where you cannot touch your phone, whereas a tree can be up to 120 minutes. If you pick up your phone during this time, the virtual plant will die and appear on the field. If you stick with it, you’ll soon find a forest filled with beautiful thriving plants.
The more you use it, the more plants you’ll unlock – and you can even set tags to see how you’re spending your time: i.e half an hour working out, an hour blogging etc. The app is free, however, you can pay for the pro version for £1.79 which will allow you to have real trees planted alongside your virtual ones. So you’re also doing your bit for the environment too!
How have you coped during quarantine? Have you relied on any apps to help with your mental health? Or have you found switching off your phone to be more relaxing? Let me know!
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