Top 3 Wellness Apps for Busy Professionals
How to keep calm and carry on!
People are always surprised when “The Cupcake Queen” speaks to the benefits of chia seeds, intermittent fasting and red light therapy, just as expertly as her favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Let’s just say that I have a passion for living a full and happy life.
Despite being a pastry chef, wellness plays a very large part in maintaining that balance. Tahitian vanilla and wheatgrass are not mutually exclusive. So, how do I balance my appetite for cupcakes and good health? Regular cleanses! In fact, I’m such a proponent of these regular detoxes that I invested in one. (Shameless plug, Kroma Wellness just launched and it’s amazing!)
But, physical health is only part of the picture. As a peripatetic entrepreneur and mom of two boys, including one who just became a teenager (yikes!) I have to keep a handle on my mental health too. When I overdo it on the carbs, I call in my Kroma 5 day cleanse, and when my mental outlook gets gummy, I reach for these 3 apps to keep my perspective in tip top shape.
Brain.fm
Brain FM is a science-baked app that creates functional music to induce various brain states. I first learned about it from my functional doctor in Los Angeles, who was espousing the benefits of meditation. He encouraged me to try the app’s music to help me achieve a theta brainwave state, which is the deepest type of meditation. Although I love guided meditation too (see below), there was no denying that this music helped me to achieve a deeply relaxed mental mood in no time.
Since then, I have discovered their music designed to improve focus and use that even more regularly. It keeps this very ADD entrepreneur better focused on the task at hand, which has come particularly in handy now that I’m also in the process of writing a forthcoming Harper Collins book on leadership. Writing a book is a completely new process for me, and so are the impending deadlines. Being able to tap into modes of intense focus has been critical in meeting them on time.
Uplifter
Gratitude goes under the category of things you know you need to do but that you also need constant reminders of — like working out, and not scrolling instagram right before bed. Those things that you need to stay on top of to feel good, but that you inevitably let slip without noticing until you’re in a funk. One day you just wake up feeling crummy and realize you’ve relinquished all your healthy habits. It’s not like you don’t know that eating well and meditating is good for you, but somehow you just need to be reminded of it… again and again and again. That’s where Uplifter comes in.
Uplifter is a mobile journal that trains a positive mindset through gratitude and positive psychology exercises. Exercises are drawn from leading neuroscience research. Regular usage will lead to greater resilience and happier feelings. It can also help reduce feelings of depression. We all have a tendency to get in our own heads and become consumed with our own lives, to the detriment of our mental health, but science has shown the benefits of appreciation.
According to Harvard Medical School, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. Stopping to think about the many people and things in my life I am grateful for is a quick escape from monkey mind. Uplifter helps me to achieve this joyful and expansive state quickly with its simple yet well formulated prompts.
Waking Up with Sam Harris
I first heard about the Waking Up app from my favorite podcaster, Tim Ferriss, who knows a thing or two about meditation. He is a big believer in the practice, often interviewing guests on the topic and in his book,Tribe of Mentors, where he interviewed 140 people at the top of their fields. Surprisingly, he found that the majority of them had a meditation practice. So, when he recommended Sam Harris’s meditation app, after being a beta tester, I knew I had to give it a shot.
Sam Harris is also a credible source himself, a neuroscientist, philosopher, and New York Times best-selling author. Having learned transcendental meditation, I was discouraged by the recommendation to practice for at least 20 minutes twice a day. I was convinced the benefits of meditation could be achieved in less time, so I was delighted to experience Sam’s 10 minute guided meditations.
Waking Up is not just a daily meditation, it’s also a study of consciousness. You can go deep into discovery within this app; there are courses and lessons in theory. There are conversations and guest speakers and musings on life, like the incredibly poignant, “The Last Time,” in which Sam Harris asks you to look at each experience as potentially the very last time you will ever do it. Talk about a sure fire way to keep you present and grounded in gratitude!
With burnout becoming an increasingly visible issue rising amongst competitive professionals across all industries, it’s more important than ever to protect your mental health. It’s always easier said than done and, unfortunately, it’s not really something you can outsource to an assistant. I’ve found apps to be the one thing that makes it feel accessible to me anywhere I am, no matter how much time I’ve got. I hope these recommendations prove to be just as helpful for you too.
Candace Nelson is an entrepreneur, angel investor, pastry chef, TV personality and NYT best selling author. She created a new category of food retail with Sprinkles Cupcakes and became a household name as a star on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and Netflix’s Sugar Rush. Candace is also the co-founder of CN2 ventures which partners with and invests in great talent to create compelling consumer brands, including the Michelin-award winning Pizzana restaurants, athleisure brand Willy California and ed tech company Play2Progress. Candace believes anyone can be an entrepreneur with the right inspiration and guidance. Think you’re ready? Take Candace’s entrepreneur readiness test here.
