The festive period is upon us and that means a new year is just around the corner. If you are looking to head into 2022 in good physical and emotional shape, you might turn to technology to help you form the good habits you’ll need to make long-term lifestyle changes.

From apps to help you relax, sleep better, eat healthier or get fit, there are plenty of ways technology can help.

Here are seven apps you might consider.

1. Calm

Calm is one of the biggest names in meditation and mindfulness apps, regularly topping “best app” guides.

From daily meditations and mindfulness masterclasses to exercise, relaxation, and sleep, the app has more than 1 million subscribers. It’s easy to see why – as well as being packed with content, it’s also one of the more reasonable subscription apps on the market.

An annual subscription is just £28.99, with occasional offers making it even more affordable (the yearly subscription recently dropped to just £17.39).

Calm can help you relax, stay fit, and aid your mental health. In fact, 84% of those using the app five times a week or more agreed that they had seen an improvement in their mental health.

2. Headspace

Headspace is another app that continues to dominate the mindfulness market.

It has been around for more than a decade and offers simple and hassle-free beginner’s guides to meditation. These include bite-size 10-minute sessions designed to fit around your busy day. Whether you’re looking to take time out during your commute, on your lunch break, or just before bed, Headspace can help.

Although initially free to download, the full subscription service will set you back £9.99 per month or £49.99 for a year.

3. Sleep Cycle

Apps like Calm and Headspace offer relaxation tools and soundscapes to help you drift into a relaxing sleep.

Sleep Cycle, though, will help you understand how you sleep and is perfect for building good sleep habits as you head into a new year.

The app analyses your sleep patterns and then chooses the optimum time in your sleep cycle to wake you up (within parameters you set). You’ll wake up at the “correct” point in your circadian cycle and start the day feeling fresh and wide awake.

You can also use the data that the app collects to track the bad habits that might be preventing you from getting a good night’s sleep, allowing you to make positive changes.

4. Couch to 5K

Provided by Public Health England (PHE) and the BBC, the Couch to 5K app hit 5 million downloads recently, with a particular spike during the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

The app is the perfect way to get into shape. Taking small steps, you’ll build up slowly from 60 seconds of running, punctuated by 90 seconds of walking to running a full 5k by the end of week eight.

Whatever your level of fitness currently, this slow-building approach will see you build strength and stamina as you complete three runs a week on your way to your 5 kilometre goal.

From there, you can either work on improving your time, or move onto Couch to 10k!

5. Fooducate

If healthier eating is part of your plan for the new year, Fooducate could help. Simply scan the food you’re eating, and the app will grade its general healthiness, as well as break down its macro counts, ingredients, and additives like MSG, or other ingredients you might want to avoid.

You can also use the app to search for recipes. This can be a great way to increase your healthy food intake while focusing on eating well, rather than on dieting and calorie-counting.

The app is free to download, and an app-free version is available for a small, one-off fee.

6. Oh She Glows

Oh She Glows is a recipe blog, cookbook, and now app. It provides plant-based recipes, perfect if you’re looking to get more fruit and vegetables into your diet, or you’re experimenting with going vegan.

With vegan and gluten-free recipes available, this app will help you to take the plunge into a healthier, fibre-rich diet, which could also help you to lose weight.

7. Habitica

Habitica is a free app that uses a game-like interface to help you set goals and form better habits.

The retro aesthetic requires you to create an in-game avatar who then levels-up through the completion of real-world tasks. The best thing about the app is that you set the tasks yourself, making it completely bespoke to each user.

If you are looking to drink more water, eat more fruit, do more exercise, turn the lights off when you leave a room, or read more, the app can help. Set up tasks, goals, and rewards, and then allow the “gamifying” app to make your habit-forming fun.

You’ll be surprised how quickly small steps can turn into habits and genuine lifestyle changes.