Everyday life gets stressful when you have errands to run, kids to pick up from school and a job with little work-life balance. So how can you take some time to relax and regroup mentally and physically? The answer might just be in the palm of your hand.
Your iPhone 6 is your gateway to apps that help you find time to relax. If you’re having difficulty finding a way to clear your head, explore the natural world and de-stress from everyday life, here are some apps that might help:
BackCountry Navigator GPS Pro
If you’re a hiking or nature enthusiast, this topographical map app lets download maps in advance. This means that you always have access, even when you’re hiking out of cell service range. The maps show terrain through color and contours, making it easy to navigate and letting you get away from it all.
AllTrails
This free app contains 50,000 trail guides for the United States and Canada. It allows you to set up your own trails through GPS tracking, where you can attach photos and text to share with others. The app has over 1.5 million users who compete against one another in the app’s World Elevation Challenge. This competition encourages you to track your progress as you scale the world’s greatest heights.
SAS Survival Guide
The Special Air Service Survival Guide is one of many military survival guides; however, this one is packed full of helpful info that could save your life when you’re out in nature. It offers over 400 pages of text, photos, diagrams and videos. The app’s highlights are its compass device, galleries of edible and medicinal plants, climate survival guide, knot gallery and survival checklists. It can be used without cell data service, so you’re well prepared to conquer the great outdoors.
Florafolio
With this app, you can do more than just stop and smell the flowers — you can identify them, too. This interactive field guide covers flowers, plants and trees that are native to the northeastern region of North America. Whether you’re taking a relaxing nature walk or spending some down time in your garden, this app has an ever-expanding library that helps you become familiar with your plants and their names.
Breathe2Relax
While the aforementioned apps are related to outdoor exploration, this app enables you to escape in a different way. This app is a stress management tool that helps its users learn diaphragmatic breathing. It offers exercises and instructions to focus your your breathing, which leads to stress reduction, mood stabilization and anxiety management.
Headspace
Headspace is one of the most popular meditation apps. Create your own personalized, guided or unguided, meditation journey to reduce your stress and make way for calm. There is a Take10 program on the app, where you learn about the basics of meditation in 10 minutes per day. Choose meditation programs that have a specific focus, such as reducing stress, aiding sleep, harnessing happiness and appreciating what you have.