Whether you’re trying to hit specific fitness goals or you just want to improve your overall health, getting and staying healthy is much easier when you have the right tech in hand. Not all health and fitness apps are worth your hard-earned time and money, though. Check out seven highly rated apps that can help improve your health consciousness.
MyFitnessPal
A favorite app among fitness freaks and couch potatoes alike, MyFitnessPal is your one-stop shop for getting a handle on tracking your daily calories. Just input what you eat for every meal, and the app will calculate your total calorie consumption for you. Choose standard restaurant menu items, add online recipes, or input custom snacks and meals, and the app does the math for you. Whether you want to know how many calories you typically consume or you’re trying to stay below a certain threshold, this app will help.
Take things one step further and log your fitness routine, too, and you’ll know whether you’re burning enough calories to make up for that junk food binge. You can access your MyFitnessPal account from both your smart device or desktop, so it’s easy to stay on track.
Moves
Feeling all over the place lately? The Moves app can help you get a handle on where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. Think of it as a daily log of your activity.
Moves functions as a pedometer and keeps tally of your daily steps. It also tracks whether you’re walking, running, biking, driving, or on the subway and calculates your total calories burned. That’s not all, though. It also makes notes of where you spend your time, which can help you pinpoint unhealthy daily habits. Never really realized that you stop for calorie-packed croissants almost every day before work? This app helps you become conscious of how your daily routine impacts your health and can prompt you to make necessary changes.
Strava
If you spend your mornings running or your weekend biking, you know that doing the same route solo every time can get tedious. So why not get social and find the best routes in your area at the same time?
With Strava, you can automatically track your running or biking routes every time you hit the trail. You’ll get a detailed record of your route and a performance report. You don’t have to keep it to yourself, though. Each workout goes into your Strava feed, where everyone can high five you on achieving a personal best or finding an awesome new route.
Health IQ
Get a handle on your health by quizzing yourself about your health status. With the Health IQ app, you can find out your health knowledge level in just five minutes. Test your knowledge and get free prizes and recognition for your superior health consciousness. Check back daily for new quizzes on topics like strength training, food nutrients, brain health, and much more.
Instant Heart Rate
Staying active is great, but you might not stay as fit as you want if you don’t keep an eye on your heart rate. After all, if you’re doing cardio, you need to make sure you’re hitting those target heart rates.
Download the Instant Heart Rate app and use your phone’s camera to measure your heart rate while you’re resting and while you’re working out. It’s that easy. For unlimited heart rate tracking, consider dropping a few bucks on the pro version of the app.
Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock
Good health is about so much more than what you do and how you eat while you’re awake. Your sleep habits can also have a major impact on your overall health status, but it’s tough to know how well you’re sleeping each night.
Don’t worry. There’s no need to invest in yet another gadget. With the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock app, you can get all the data you need from your smartphone. Just place your phone under your pillow when you hit the sack, and the app uses your phone’s accelerometer to monitor your sleep cycle and wake you up at the optimal time. After you’re up and at ’em, you can check your sleep stats, review your sleep quality over time, and make healthy adjustments as necessary.
RunKeeper
Training for a marathon or just want to keep better track of your mileage? RunKeeper is the app for you. Track your goals, track your pace for each run, and even get a list of personalized routines to help you achieve those goals. They even have a feature called “GoalCoach” that helps to motivate users to set and reach short-term and long-term fitness goals.
RunKeeper also has auditory cues to help you stay on pace while on your long runs.
Symple
What if you aren’t feeling great but you don’t know where to start with improving your health? Symple is a free iPhone app that allows you to track up to five symptoms and five factors that affect how you feel. You can import data from your phone’s Health app or add your own notes and photos to make sure you don’t forget anything.
If you want to take a DIY approach, do some detective work on your own to figure out what’s making you feel off. If you have a date with the doctor, share your symptom log to figure out what the problem is and get a resolution more quickly.
From monitoring workouts to tracking calories to recording recurring symptoms, these apps are awesome tools to boost your health consciousness. But that doesn’t mean they’ll do the work for you. Keep an eye on the data you’re generating to get a better sense of your habits, and then consider some smart changes to stay on the path toward great health.
Now that you have taken control of your health with an app, use an app to get rewarded for your newfound fitness. Health IQ is the only life insurance company that extends special rates to health-conscious consumers. Connect with Health IQ to see how much you can save on life insurance.