9 Strategies For Using Your iPhone or iPad To Improve Your Mental Health

Without question, everyone has access to the internet via a variety of gadgets, making them more integrated into the digital world than in the past. Even if there are countless opportunities in the digital world, these gadgets are capable of much more.

Here are some helpful suggestions on how to use an iPhone, Apple Watch, or iPad to improve your overall welfare in honor of Mental Health Awareness Week. Why not try some of these techniques? They range from practicing gratitude and meditation to thinking back on your feelings and moods, sleep, physical activity, and time spent in the daylight.

Keep track of your feelings and moods

Empirical studies have demonstrated that introspection about one’s mental health helps foster emotional intelligence and resilience. Identification of sentiments lowers negative emotions such as anger and grief and has a beneficial effect on our body by lowering heart rate, according to numerous research studies.

Whether it’s associations or lifestyle factors like sleep or exercise, you may gain vital insights into what might be contributing to your state of mind by logging your everyday moods and fleeting feelings with the State of Mind feature on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

Make mental health assessments

You may access the same depression and anxiety tests that are frequently used in clinics on your iPhone or iPad to determine your level of risk. To have more knowledgeable discussions with your care team, you can share these results with them.

Keep track of the amount of time you spend outside

Research indicates that spending 15 to 30 minutes outside can lower stress and anxiety levels while elevating emotions of well-being. Using the ambient light sensor on the Apple Watch, you can monitor how much time you spend outside during the day and see how much of it you spend in the Health app. Additionally, you can keep an eye on how much time family members who own controlled Apple Watches spend outside.

Think on and express thanks

With the help of the Journal app, you can record and write about both ordinary and noteworthy occurrences in your life. You can also add rich memories by including images, videos, audio files, locations, and more.

Customizable notifications and private, tailored suggestions are offered by on-device machine learning to encourage diary entries and foster a writing habit. Writing in a journal encourages reflection and the practice of thankfulness, both of which have been demonstrated to enhance wellbeing.

Cut back on outside distractions and disengage

Focus is a quality that aids in setting limits and minimizing distractions. You can build a custom Focus or modify one of the pre-provided Focus options, such as Work, Personal, or Sleep, to focus on a certain task. With Focus, you can indicate to other users and applications that you’re busy and temporarily disable all alerts, or enable only those that are relevant to your current task.

When someone tries to message you, they will notice that you have disabled alerts, but they can still reach you in case of an emergency. You may program a Focus to activate when you access a particular app or at predetermined intervals when you’re at a specified place. You can activate a Focus that is connected to your Lock Screen by just swiping to the relevant Lock Screen.

Do breathing exercises

You are encouraged to set aside a few minutes each day to breathe while focusing, centering, and connecting with others using the Mindfulness app on your Apple Watch. To help you unwind and breathe deliberately throughout the day, you can even design a Breathe watch face.

Use meditation to lower stress

Fitness+ provides guided meditations to assist users in creating a regular meditation practice and enhancing their general well-being. There are eleven themes available for selection, such as Sleep, Calm, Kindness, and Gratitude. For your meditations, the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are the ideal accessories. You may focus on your meditation and stay away from outside distractions by using Active Noise Cancellation.

Make a customized sleep schedule

In order to maintain good physical and mental health, sleep is essential. While tracking is an excellent place to start, the Apple Watch and iPhone Sleep experiences offer much more. In order to achieve your sleep goals even during the busiest of times, it assists you in creating a timetable and a nighttime routine.

Engage in outdoor exercise. Studies demonstrate the link between physical activity and spending time outside and mental health. You can view your data in the Health app and use your Apple Watch to track your walks and treks. With Fitness+, you can listen into Time to Walk, an inspirational audio experience on iPhone and Apple Watch that highlights some of the most fascinating and powerful individuals on the planet who share tales, images, and music in an effort to encourage people to walk more frequently.