Beating The January Blues: Apps For Positive Mental Attitude

Feeling slumped after the New Year? Fed up with the lack of sunlight? Once the festivities settle, it’s not uncommon that many of us feel a bit down entering a new year. That will be the ‘January Blues’, defined as feelings of low mood, sadness, lack of motivation, tiredness and low energy. According to NHS Inform, it affects around 2 million people in the UK. In fact, January 15, 2024 marks Blue Monday, regarded as the most depressing day of the year. Here, SIM-only mobile provider spusu, highlights three apps that can help ease the blues this January.

Headspace

When mood is low, keeping positive can be difficult. But practicing meditation is proven to enhance mental attitude by improving focus and reducing stress.

With over 40 million users, Headspace is one of the most popular apps for boosting mental health — and for good reason. According to Headspace’s website, a study conducted at Google and Roche where employees used Headspace for eight weeks found that participants reported a 46 per cent reduction in depression and a 31 per cent reduction in anxiety.

With Headspace, users can map their personal journey, track their progress and enjoy rewards for their efforts. Additionally, the app allows users to connect with friends, providing motivation and encouragement along the way.

A similar, but free alternative to Headspace is Oak, which has various meditation options and breathing techniques specifically for calming the mind and aiding better sleep.

Calm

Getting a good night’s rest is a great way to reset the mind. But that’s easier said than done when mood is low. Calm is an app dedicated to improving mental health based on three key goals: stress less, sleep more and live mindfully.

While Calm also applies meditation as a method of supporting sleep, there are other helpful features including sleep stories, some narrated by celebrities, various sleep sounds including white noise and specialised sleep music to support relaxation and encourage a better night’s sleep.

The app contains an extensive library of guided meditation and sleep exercises. In addition, Calm will create objectives to provide personalised content suggestions. For instance, whether that’s increasing happiness or feeling more grateful, Calm will curate content designed to achieve these objectives.


Happify

If you’re searching for a little positivity in the first month of the New Year, then Happify could be the answer. Happify offers science-based activities and games to help users overcome negative thoughts, anxiety, reduce stress and improve emotional wellbeing.
It’s designed for individuals experiencing stress and provides activities backed by research on positive psychology. After answering a questionnaire, the app will suggest a “track” for the user. “Tracks” are groups of activities and games that help the user achieve their goals and are based on cognitive behavioural principles therapy, mindfulness and positive psychology.

Examples could include managing stress better or preventing negative thoughts. Rather than feeling like a chore, the games are designed to make mindfulness fun. According to Happify, results have indicated that 86 per cent of people feel better about their life after using the app for just two months.

With around 2 million people in the UK feeling Blue in January, it’s an issue that can make a new year feel like daunting experience, rather than a positive one. Turning to apps like Headspace, Calm and Happify can make the Blues feel a little brighter.