Top Apps to keep a Healthy Lifestyle

Whether it's having to wait weeks for an appointment or having to sit in the surgery waiting for someone to miss their allotted time, sometimes it's just not practical or feasible to see you GP when you feel ill. This is especially true when you're away from home either working or on holiday.


Apps are a great way to manage your lifestyle especially because our lives can be so hectic that we forget to recognize that our bodies need consideration. A mobile phone is something close to hand and with the right app installed it can be a great asset to help us with some of our health challenges. Also, information can also be hard to find and an app is a great way to find the right information in one place.

The following are some great apps that would likely suit people at all ages and with different lifestyles.

Medical databases
Saga has a Health app for the over the 50s which could be very useful in such a situation. It is absolutely free to download from the Apple App store, includes easy-to-use factsheets on as many as 800 medical conditions and health topics, with information sourced directly from the NHS Choices website. Using the app, you can access a database of hospitals. In addition, the app allows you to search for over 1000 specialists by both locations and by field of expertise. Using GPS, the app will even provide directions to your chosen hospital.

Symptoms trackers
The Saga Health app is great for researching a wide variety of illnesses; however, if you're looking for more specific information, Symple is another fantastic app that you can find within the Apple App store. If you suffer from headaches or shoulder pain that seems to come from nowhere, Symple helps you to track the times when you experience the symptoms, which in turn allows you to decipher any triggers and other patterns that might be causing or contributing to the pain. The Symple app allows users to track up to 20 symptoms at a single time, as well as allowing you to make daily notes and take photos, keep track of your exercise routine, medications and other health-related factors.

Keeping healthy
Both these apps work fantastically if you are feeling under the weather, but what app is best for maintaining that healthy lifestyle so you don't get ill? A look in the Apple App store when searching for "Healthy Living" shows that among the most popular health-related apps is Pact - Cash for Living Healthy, which billed on the store as ‘the most effective way to actually keep your healthy resolutions this year', which is novel in the sense that it allows those who keep up with healthy living to earn cash for doing so. Where does the cash come from? It's paid by members who don't keep up with the pact.

Record your sleep patterns and patter
Finally, one app that isn't directly health related, but deserves an honorable mention is the cool new app 'Sleep Talk Recorder'. According to a study conducted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 50% of children and 5% of adults have a tendency to talk in their sleep. If you're one of them, there's a way to find out which old girlfriend you are referring to in your sleep with Sleep Talk Recorder. The app is easy to use, and saves your sleep-time recordings, placing them on a timeline for easy access and playback. There really is no replacement for your real GP, but that doesn't mean anyone enjoys seeing them. However If you get any or all of these apps in your life who knows, you may keep healthy enough to stay away from them for a good long while.