Living Young, Busy, & Healthy Using Tech

Over the past six and a half months, I've found myself eating, living, and sleeping better. People have asked me how I find time to balance a busy lifestyle - working a full-time, a part-time, a volunteer (leading a digital team across three time zones), and a board position - while finding time to work out, eat well, and avoid fast food. 

As a millennial, I know that I'm not the only one aiming to live such a lifestyle, so I would like to share some tech tools and resources I use to help me do this.

Before getting onto the list, however, I'd like to mention that no list of tech tools and resources can help you truly reach the level of motivation and mental health you need in order to achieve your lifestyle goals, whether it is to lose weight, to sleep better, or to simply stay fit. For this reason, I would like to suggest these two podcasts which can uncover a lot of  misconceptions of healthy sleep and mental health. The Shawn Stevenson Model has a ton more amazing podcasts and I highly suggest integrating these into your typical day.

Now onto the list! These are the things I use; however, there are many more available options that may work equally as well or better. I have found my combination; if you have a different combination or further suggestions, please share! 

Free Apps: Tracking (no, not just food logging!)

Lark

Chat with a CPU that will ask for brief updates about your activity, sleep, and

 overall health and teach you little by little about how small shifts towards a healthier lifestyle can benefit you in a plethora of ways. If you have a motion activity sensor in your phone (i.e. iPhone 6), it will even track your daily activity! Check it out on the App Store or Google Play store.

For Women: Clue

Track your menstrual cycle, related symptoms throughout the month, and stay prepared - for more than just your menstruation. Check it out on the App Store or Google Play store.

MyFitnessPal

Probably one of the most popular health apps on the market, MyFitnessPal does an effective job of more than just calorie counting to reach your weight loss goal. Once you learn to habituate yourself to tracking everything that enters your body, you can look beyond the calories: get into the macros, the nutrients, the exercise integration, and really get a holistic picture of your consumption. Remember: health is not just about weight loss. It's about so much more. For example, I am currently trying to improve my sleep and mood so I am trying to consume more foods with high levels of serotonin. If you have any questions about what you should be aiming to eat, the best person to talk to is a dietician - not Yahoo answers. You can also create your own recipes, frequent meals, and track everything via mobile OR desktop. Check it out for iPhone, iPad, Android, or Windows.

Free Apps: Exercise & Activity

Pact

This is an awesome way to make money for being healthy! Simply make a promise to go to the gym x times, eat y number of fruits and veggies, and/or log your food z times in MyFitnessPal (see previous section) over the next week, fulfill your pacts, and watch the money roll in! Of course, each time you miss an activity, you lose $5-10 depending on what you put in as your motivation. It syncs with third-party apps and has strong measures to make sure you can't cheat your way around your pacts. Check it out on the App Store or Google Play store.

Runkeeper

One of the most important things about tracking health for me is integration. I have a Fitbit Charge (further discussed later) and it does a great job of tracking my steps - but what about when I cycle a few kilometers? This is where Runkeeper comes in really handy. If you're the outdoorsy, forest therapy, morning jog, or simply running around the block kind of person, kick on Runkeeper with your favourite tunes (see next) and let your phone use its GPS to track your activity and keep you motivated every 5-10 minutes. It'll sync with Pact and MyFitnessPal automatically! The one red flag I have is that it seems to use a lot of data, but there may be a way to reduce that. Check it out on the App Store or Google Play store.

iPhone Only: Spotify: Running

The ever-favourite music streaming app and platform, Spotify, recently introduced a new "Running" feature for mobile. Simply put your phone in your pocket or on an armband with your headphones on, start running for it to detect your tempo, and it will automatically play music with an aligned beats per minute (BPM). This keeps your body moving at a consistent pace, making it easier for you to keep yourself going instead of slowing down sooner. Use it on the elliptical or with Runkeeper and you're good to go! It'll work with different genres of music or your "Recommended for You" list. Unfortunately, this is only available for iPhone for now.

JEFIT

As if I haven't been clear enough already, I love stats and tracking them. JEFIT allows me to not only track my workouts, sets, weights, and reps progress, but it also allows me to create my own workouts and draw upon the JEFIT community workouts. With an extensive list of individual exercises and stretches, the ability to track aggregate progress through statistics and pictures, JEFIT is an easy-to-use personal trainer. You can track your workouts and view data via mobile or desktop. Check it out on the App Store or Google Play store. 

Paid Apps & Items

Fitbit

I recently got a Fitbit Charge and I am just loving it. It's a simple wristband that tracks my daily activity: steps, stairs, calories burned, and sleep. Some of the more advanced models offer heart rate monitoring and bicycle tracking, among other features. There are definitely some competitors in the market, such as Jawbone and the new Apple Watch, as well as some features of new mobile devices such as the iPhone 6 that can supplement some of Fitbit's feature. However, so far I've found that my iPhone 6's motion and activity tracking lacks in accuracy as compared to my Fitbit. One disadvantage about Fitbit is that the company purposefully designed the app so that it does not integrate with Apple Health (discussed later). A solution to this is the Sync Solver for iOS ($2.29 USD) which will integrate Fitbit activity back to Apple Health. 

iPhone Only: Sleep Cycle Bundle

Before getting my Fitbit, I was using a nifty app called Sleep Cycle to track my sleep quality. For $4.59, I got Sleep Cycle, Power Nap, and Heart Rate: three apps to get a relatively accurate reading of my sleep and heart health every day. Sleep Cycle requires your phone to be on your bed near your pillow all night - a serious question mark here for radiation as well as sleep-reducing technology. Regardless, it did the job for the short term. Power Nap is neat because it has three different levels of naps and wakes you up before you get into deep sleep. Again, it requires your phone to be actually touching your body (in your pocket, or I just keep it somewhere near my legs). Heart Rate uses your phone's flash and camera to get a reading of your heart rate. All of these integrate with Apple Health to get you an aggregate idea of where you're at with your health. 

Resources & Tips

• Drink water. There are way too many studies supporting this for me to have to prove it to you by sourcing a link. You know you have to do it. Don't give me that look. 
• Remember that your mental health is the most important out of everything and you can improve it by making fundamental changes like what you eat, what you do, how you sleep, and how you spend your time. 
• Plan your days. Put it into your schedule to get some workout time, cooking time, and don't forget about some relaxing alone time. And hold yourself accountable to this schedule!
• Give up that bad habit you know you have to give up but keep avoiding. Whether it's smoking, drinking, or relying too much on painkillers for every little thing, it's probably hurting your body more than it's helping anything.
• Podcasts! Find some podcasts (like The Shawn Stevenson Model Health Show), find a favourite, and listen to them. You don't need to make time to do so; just make a habit. Listen to them while driving into work, while cooking, doing mindless work, playing video games. Remember to make notes and try to actively address some of the suggestions!
• Find your favourite recipe sites and food bloggers. One of my favourites is Greatist: they have great recipes, articles, and consolidated lists of external recipes. Try to cook something new at least once a week. You'll start to love it before you know it!
• Pack your lunch. Prepare it the night before so you don't necessarily need to wake up earlier to avoid getting late for work. Or prepare a week's worth at a time! You can even freeze many recipes and make a month at a time. Try to mix it up though; a sandwich every day can get boring ;)
• Give yourself a break. Let loose once in a while.
• Eat frequently in minimal quantities and calorie levels. You'll find yourself more energized throughout the day.
• Use sticky notes or tech tools like IFTTT to make little reminders for yourself to go for walks, eat a snack, drink water, etc. Some of the suggested apps above have integrated notifications to remind you to go for a run, to log your food, etc. 
• Improve your health by learning about what you're doing. Check out Health IQ on the App Store or the Google Play store. 
• Keep your caffeine intake before noon. You'll find yourself sleeping better. No, you are not immune to caffeine because you drink it so much. 
• Sleep in cold temperatures. Your body will find itself in more restorative stages. 
• Find a buddy. Workout with them. Give them s**t for not logging their food yesterday on MyFitnessPal. Challenge them to daily showdowns on Fitbit. Share this post with them and get them going.
• Stop making excuses. 

Please share your thoughts, additional suggestions, and questions below. And don't forget to share with your network - everybody deserves a healthy body. I'm constantly curating articles into my Living Young, Healthy, & Busy Flipboard magazine so if you're on Flipboard, give it a follow!

Healthy days, everybody!