In a world of smartphones, tablets, and watches, tracking your movements, physical activity, and health is easier than ever. There’s a smattering of helpful apps to keep your heart healthy. Who knew that your personal health assistant would fit inside your pocket?
5 Apps to Keep Your Heart Healthy
1. Blood Pressure Log-MyDiary
This app will help to keep your heart healthy by giving you an easy way to monitor, log, and track your blood pressure as often as you’d like.
With the app, you are able to review charts showing trends of your blood pressure levels. It can show you graphs of the changes in your blood pressure as well, to see when your levels have been too high or where you want them to be.
One of the best features of this app, besides being free, is that you can email your report off the app straight to your doctor. This way, you are able to keep your doctor up to date about your health.
The only thing this app doesn’t come with is a blood pressure monitor. While some phones, like the Samsung Galaxy series (from 5 up) have a built-in blood pressure monitor, you just need to input the info yourself.
2. Endomondo
Another free offered for Android or Apple users, this app is is a fitness log with a kick. Powered by Under Armour, Endomondo comes with a built-in virtual coach to help you reach your goals during a workout.
You can even receive comments and encouragement from friends and family in real time during your exercise, helping you get that push to finish hard.
Staying connected and challenging other workout buddies makes it easier to want to exercise and be heart healthy. This is definitely one of the best apps to keep your heart healthy.
3. MyFitnessPal
Recently bought out by Under Armour (to work with Endomondo), MyFitnessPal is a calorie logger and weight tracker. It’s so easy to use, it’s the number one health and fitness app in the world.
What makes this app one of the best food tracking apps is the ability to search for name brand foods and find the full nutritional content. Additionally, you can simply scan the barcode on your food product and the information will come up and log it all for you!
Also, it supports any diet you may be on, including South Beach Diet and Atkins. This can help you to achieve your diet goals even though it may be laid out in the program already.
One of the best features is that you can get a breakdown of how many grams of carbs, protein, fats, etc. you need each day and get alerted after logging in a meal or snack if you’re getting close to that number.
4. Sleep Cycle
Not getting enough sleep is actually detrimental to your heart health. One study found that people who averaged less than 5 hours of sleep a night had higher blood pressure than those you averaged 7 or 8 hours.
The Sleep Cycle app helps you to sleep better and feel more rested by measuring your sleep cycle. You log when you are going to bed and what time you’ve set your alarm for. Anytime within 30 minutes before your alarm will go off, it wakes you up when you’re in your lightest sleep state.
That way, you’re not groggy from oversleeping or from being woken up out of a deep sleep. You’ll wake up feeling refreshed.
5. Zombies, Run!
Yep, it’s as silly and fun as it sounds. Zombie, Run! is one of the most creative apps to keep your heart healthy. Go on different missions to “rebuild civilization after a zombie apocalypse by running in the real world.”
Many of us are not runners at heart. We need some motivation. Well, running from zombies and gathering items along the way is one way to keep running.
There are different stories you can accomplish, even a new Beginner 5k pack (you have to pay for it) that help you to train and run. Additionally, there’s a whole story to what you do, so your running isn’t just for exercise, but humanity too.
Resources
http://greatist.com/fitness/best-health-fitness-apps