There is no doubt that college life is quite stressful. Students need to adjust to a completely new life and often balance work with studies. It is a lot to take in. That’s why it is crucial to adopt some healthy stress-reducing strategies.
Many things can make one feel better – being in nature, talking to friends, or finding essay writers for hire that can take the burden of assignments off your shoulders. Yet another healthy idea is to adopt breathing exercises and meditation into daily life. These are mindfulness techniques that can help you calm down in a couple of minutes and significantly reduce stress and anxiety.
If you worry that they are hard to learn, it is not the case. Use one of the extremely helpful apps from this list for that.
Breethe
If you have trouble sleeping, this is one of the best options out there. It is designed to help with falling asleep with breathing exercises. The software is free for basic features, but there is also a premium subscription for $12.95 a month or $89.95 a year.
It has a great collection of features, such as playlists, guided meditations, readings and bedtime stories, and masterclasses. There are also weekly programs available. And the app can be synced with any of your devices.
Other amazing functions are a gentle alarm clock and morning meditations.
Calm
Calm is one of the most popular tools in this segment. Its main focus is to assist with meditation and reduce anxiety. It has a free plan, but one can also pay $69.99 for an annual premium account or make a lifetime purchase for $399.99.
It has lots of amazing features, such as, of course, open-ended meditations and sleep stories (Narrated among others by Bob Ross and Matthew McConaughey). But also it has breathing and stretching exercises and daily mindfulness activities.
Overall, it is a perfect app to calm down and learn strategies and techniques to stay centered and calm.
Smiling Mind
It is completely free non-profit software for students to enjoy. There are hundreds of guided meditations for many goals – sleeping, digital detox, or learning mindfulness.
Meditations are usually about 5-15 minutes long and help to calm down quite quickly. But advanced users can find several long programs for 45 minutes.
Other features include journaling, going offline, counting senses, and other healthy techniques to make one’s life more fulfilling.
UCLA Mindful
This is another completely free non-profit tool for anyone in need. It was developed by the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. There is a good collection of meditation both in English and Spanish. They are about 3-19 minutes long and help to breathe, focus, and calm down.
The app also has a lot of information on mindfulness and how to choose the right strategy.
Headspace
Headspace is a great tool for beginners. The basic plan is free; the premium version costs $12.99 per month or $69.99 annually. There are guided and short meditations to get instant relief as well as focusing practices and sleep help.
It is designed based on research and a clinical approach to mindfulness and has a 10-day starting program. All of that is amazing to reduce anxiety and combat stress.
Liberate
The main advantage of this app is that it is designed by and for the Black community. It has a free plan, as well as an advanced subscription for $9.99 a month or $71.99 a year. The app has a wonderful collection (260+) of experience-based meditations. They are about 5-25 minutes long and available to listen to even offline.
The topics cover microaggressions, forgiveness, and internalized racism.
iBreathe
This is a very affordable tool that is available for free but costs $1.99 to remove ads and add some customization. It is very simple and intuitive and involves lots of breathing and mindfulness exercises. The tool helps with anxiety and stress relief, as well as sleeping issues. And one can set reminders for daily practices. Check Out CBD Candy for Stress Relief online from JustCBD Store
Healthy Minds Program
If you are interested in straightening focus, reducing stress, and becoming more resilient – this app is for you. And the best part is that it is free. It was founded by a neuroscientist and is based on research data to make one’s well-being better.
One can work on their connection, insight, awareness, and purpose. There are both short and lengthy practices for daily life. Overall, there are 27 meditations available that are more on a podcast side, yet still helpful if you want to be more aware.
Breathe In
Breathe In is a simple yet very effective app to calm down and focus. It costs $5.99 per year or $0.99 per month. There are quick and simple practices, visualizations, and short guided meditations (about 5 minutes).
The main goal is to breathe and calm down in a couple of minutes when you feel overwhelmed. There is also a reminder feature.
Insight Timer
Looking for a huge library and great community? Then Insight Timer might be just the app. It is free to enter, there is a 30-days trial, but premium subscription costs $60 per year.
But the benefits are immense – there are over 80,000 guided meditations on various topics, from stress and sleep up to creativity and relationships.
Another interesting feature is that the app shows the number of users today and how many people meditated with you after a session. There are also many teachers you can follow, enjoy advice and inspiration from. There are also real-time interactions available every day.
One can even create groups of friends to meditate together.
In Summary
Being more mindful helps to live a better and more fulfilling life. Whether you want to gain more focus and awareness to simply calm down with quick breathing exercises – these apps will help you. Choose the one that works for you to reduce stress and anxiety.