Five Apps to Help You Clear Your Mind and Destress

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, it's only normal to feel stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious every now and then. The health crisis has seen us cooped up within the confines of our homes for safety's sake, making burnout and languishing a common experience for those of us working remotely.
Take a deep breath and consider these five apps for those days when you just need to destress and clear your mind.
Headspace
The Headspace app, launched in 2010, was founded by Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, and Richard Pierson with the goal to teach its users mindfulness skills. Aside from having access to meditation on topics like stress, resilience, and compassion, users can also improve their sleep by utilizing Headspace's relaxing sounds and wind-down exercises. Lastly, keep active and train your body and mind at the same time with Headspace's Move feature, which includes tension-releasing workouts, yoga, and music playlists. Headspace is available on Google Play and the App Store.
Calm
Another meditation and mindfulness app you can check out is Calm, which has tailored features to help you with meditation, sleep, and movement. Calm also has exclusive music to help you focus or relax, as well as nature sounds to help you sleep better. Its masterclass feature also allows users to access its audio programs which are delivered by world-class mindfulness experts.
Day One
When you’re feeling stressed or anxious, consider jotting your thoughts down. Writing has a lot of benefits to your mental health and while nothing beats the feeling of using an actual pen and paper, we think Day One is the second best. Day One's beautiful design and minimalist layout allow you to tell your story and thoughts in journal entries not just through words, but also photos, videos, drawings, and audio recordings. And if you're concerned about security threats, Day One allows you to protect your journal with end-to-end encryption, automatic backups, and biometric security.
Breathwrk
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathwrk is a no-frills app that offers free guided breathing exercises to help you destress and manage your anxiety, sleep better, and get energized. If you're stressed, lack focus or energy, or have intrusive thoughts at night, then Breathwrk may work for you. Apart from teaching you breathing techniques used by Olympic athletes, psychologists, yoga experts, and Zen masters, Breathwrk also curates articles and studies on the benefits of breathing exercises to one’s health.
Radio Garden
Ease your stress and anxieties through the power of music. While Spotify is the go-to app today for music, we recommend you also check out Radio Garden. Radio Garden began in 2016 as an exhibition research project by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision and eventually transformed into a mobile app in 2018.
Radio Garden allows you to listen to thousands of live radio stations across different countries and cultures, so if you're in search of new sounds, you'll love their app. Check out Rotterdam-based online radio station Jazz de Ville on Radio Garden if you’re feeling jazzy and ClassiCosmos in Casablanca, Morocco, for some classical music.
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