Six apps that can help keep your mental health in check.
Running a business means constant mental and emotional struggles, especially given the challenges of the past four years – from a global pandemic to crippling inflation. Unfortunately, some business owners do not complete their business journey, as the mental anguish these challenges cause is too much for them to bear.
Small-business owners need to take care of their mental health as much as their physical health if they wish to see their business succeed and grow in the face of constant obstacles. After having looked at a number of free physical health apps in the last issue, we will now look at various free mental health apps designed to keep your mind at ease and focused on achieving your business goals.
Moodfit
Described as “fitness for your mental health”, Moodfit strives to get one’s mental health in shape. It does this by offering a variety of science-backed tools and activities, such as a thought diary based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness practices, and gratitude and mood journals that users can write in. It also provides weekly and monthly summary reports to help users identify patterns and discover the right activities to boost their mental health.
‘‘Small-business owners need to take care of their mental health as much as their physical health.’’
Headspace
With Headspace, you can build quick mindfulness activities into your day-to-day life. Users can choose from hundreds of guided meditations on everything from managing stress and everyday anxiety to facing different life challenges, such as unemployment or death, or emotions from loss to anger. The app offers three-minute ‘mental resets’, which are perfect for those with a busy schedule, and daily themed meditation and mindfulness exercises that will help you fit meditation into a busy day.
Calm
Considered by some to be the number-one app for sleep, meditation and relaxation, Calm is one of the most popular apps on the market for people who have insomnia or poor-quality sleep. It offers a dreamy interface designed to help one get a more relaxing slumber. The free version offers features such as timed meditations, sleep scenes, breathing exercises, and even a bedtime story. Users are also free to avail themselves of a trial of its premium version, which offers a more extensive feature set.
Happify
Happify was designed by therapists and rooted in the principles of positive psychology and mindfulness, with some help from AI technology, which enables the app to identify areas where you need the most growth – such as building self-confidence, shutting down negative thinking patterns, or achieving greater career success – and provide you with targeted games and activities to complete in just a few minutes each day. Users can choose from over 65 growth ‘tracks’ based on specific goals they wish to achieve.
Moodpath
Billed as “your mental health companion”, Moodpath screens users for depressive behaviour via daily questions designed to increase their awareness of their thoughts and emotions. After 14 days, the app will generate a report about your condition that you can bring to a mental health professional, so if there’s an issue, it can be addressed promptly. Videos and exercises designed to help improve one’s mental health are also available on the app.
7 Cups
For those who need someone to talk to about their mental health struggles, 7 Cups lets users instantly connect with one of 160,000 trained volunteer listeners and licensed therapists. The app engages users in anonymous, free, confidential conversations with real people, as well as providing an option to connect with multiple users and to participate in guided discussions in group support chat rooms, where they can share their struggles and get needed help within a supportive community.
PQ: Calm is one of the most popular apps on the market for people who have insomnia.
This article first appeared in issue 44 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
