Fighting Fit

We’re going to be talking all about how apps can help us stay healthy this week. I’m definitely one of those people who forgets to drink water, eats nothing but potato chips, and walks maybe the twelve steps it takes to get to the fridge daily (twenty four for a round trip, I suppose). Keeping track of my daily health and fitness has really helped with motivating me to go out and get healthier.

Pokémon Go!, the hit game put out a few summers ago, is an excellent way to propel yourself into walking around more. Apparently inspired by the fact that the creator of Pokémon was upset that all his fans were cooped up inside all the time, Pokémon Go! encourages kids and adults to go out, walk around, and see the sights of their city as landmarked by the game. It’s free to play, and has great incentives to keep going, like step count corresponding to levels and egg hatching, as well as certain Pokémon only appearing in certain places, encouraging you to walk there.

Plant Nanny is a free app that keeps track of your water intake, with the added bonus of having absolutely adorable plants! The motive? Log your hydration, or else the plants get it! If you go too long without drinking, the cute plants will wither and die, much like you will if you keep refusing to drink water every day. A great reminder of how we all need water to survive, and how connected we are with nature, Plant Nanny is a cute, fun minigame you can play in your downtime.

Your phone’s inbuilt Health app also has loads of options that you might not even have looked at yet! With everything from menstruation tracking, macros, steps, to sleep, maybe what you need is already on your phone. Mine is set up to make sure I clock at least 5,000 steps a day, which is enough for a ‘lightly active’ person, and get seven hours of sleep. I’ve even added it to my homescreen using the new iOS feature, which means I can never escape my failure of only walking to the fridge.