Whether it is giving up smoking or staying fit, it’s easy to make resolutions about staying healthy. What’s difficult is sticking to them.
CBR gives you the top technology tips to help you keep your resolutions for 2015.
1. Improve Health & Fitness
It has never been easier to keep a close watch on our health. With a wide range of health and fitness apps and gadgets available at our fingertips, we can now monitor everything from our diet, drinking habits, fitness levels and heart rate.
Fitbit
With a 69% US market share, the activity tracking wristband specifically aims to help people change their habits and make healthier decisions. It can track real-time stats from the number of active minutes you’ve walked or ran. Users access the data by touching a button on the left hand side of the screen or via an app on their smartphone or computer.
The water-resistant watch is also the first-ever to include a small OLED screen, while another feature allows users to screen and keep track of calls on the move.
The likes of the $249 Pebble Steel, Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, Meta, Omate’s TrueSmart and Sony’s SmartWatch 2 are competitors that may be worth considering. Also, check out CBR’s lists on wearable fitness devices to help you get in to tip top shape for 2015.
2. Control Stress
We know the statistics. The physical effects of stress include headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, depression, anxiety and more. This year, why not join the embrace stress relief and greater clarity of thought to help you cope with the hustle and bustle of modern day life.
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Omvana
The easy-to-use app allows you to customise your meditation sessions with sounds, noises and quotes that inspire and relax you.
Founded by wellness company Mind Valley, the free app includes a library of thousands of audio tracks and sounds that allows users to blend together in the app’s mixing board.
Owaves
Owaves, for the iPad, is a wellness planning app that aims to help users reduce stress by visualising how they will spend their day.
The free app comes with a 24-hour clock that lets users drag and drop activities essential to health, such as exercise, sleep and relaxation.
3. Improve your digital self
When you type your name into Google, what shows up or doesn’t show up can have a huge impact on your professional and personal plans.This new year why not transform your online portfolio, ensuring that all of the first results on Google are ones that show the best version of you.
Get your business and personal website up and running, start a blog, use Google +, Twitter and LinkedIn to make contacts. After a few weeks of time and effort, your Google ranking should improve as you start to accumulate more readership and contacts. Your search name should also start to look more professional and become easier to navigate for potential clients and employees.
4. Become richer
Make another new year’s resolution to save more money this year, for every penny saved is a penny earned. Here are a couple of apps to get you started.
Mint
The personal finance app for iOS and Android syncs your bank details and other financial details together, showing you how much you spend in real-time. Once you set up your starter budget, based on three months of spending history, the app starts categorising your transactions, providing graphs to show you where their money is going. If you spend more than you’ve allotted, you can also set it up to receive an email or a text message.
Saved
The latest budgeting app for the iOS 7 and Android lets users set a budget and input what they spend. Saved then provides analytics via graphs or a calendar about your expenditure with no other complicated settings. Lentor, the team behind the app, said the app can work in multiple currencies, allowing users to track what they’re spending wherever they are.
5. Quit smoking
E-cigarettes
Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking, the e-cigarette contains nicotine-infused water which is inhaled as an odourless vapour.
The electronic products can be either disposable or rechargeable and are available in supermarkets and pharmacies in a variety of shapes and sizes, designed for every type of user.
However, debate still surrounds the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a path to quitting and as a smoking substitute which can reduce the harm caused to smokers by tobacco. Most recently, a study by the National Jewish Health in Denver found that the liquid used in e-cigarettes damages healthy cells and increases the risk of respiratory infections, but other data from UK researchers showed they can help smokers quit or reduce the amount they smoke by as much as half.
Quit Pro app
For those who consider smoking e-cigarettes as trading one bad habit for another, you may be better off quitting cold turkey. If that’s the case, then Livestrong’s smoking app could help you. Available for the iOS, MyQuit Coach helps users ease off cigarettes gradually or quit the habit at once. The free app tracks how often you smoke and experience cravings hourly by counting cigarettes smoked, cravings felt and your budget as well as rewarding any milestones with badges. If users experience a craving, the app provides helpful facts and tips as well as connecting the user to supportive communities online.
