Vicki Garthwaite
It’s easy to get lost in your work while studying, but this can also be detrimental for your health. Spending too long in front of your screen isn’t good for your eyes or general fitness, and bad posture while sitting at a desk is a common problem.
But there are some technological solutions to this problem. We spoke to Matt Powell from Broadband Genie to find out some of his favourite apps and gadgets to help keep you healthy and happy while studying.
MyFitnessPal
Even if you don’t exercise regularly maintaining good eating habits can do a lot for your general health. But this can be difficult when you’re distracted with work.
MyFitnessPal is enormously helpful for monitoring your nutrition and sticking to a diet. It has a huge database of foods – both raw ingredients and pre-packaged – which you can use to log calories and nutrition on a daily basis. It can also integrate with other apps and devices (such as the Fitbit and Withing scales – see below) to automatically update your calorie goals with exercise and monitor your weight to adjust calorie and nutrition targets.
f.lux
The light from computer and mobile displays can interfere with your sleep and strain your eyes. f.lux aims to reduce the harm this can cause by adjusting the colours of a monitor according to the time of day, making it warmer at night and closer to sunlight in the day. It’s free, works automatically and is available for desktop computers as well as some mobile devices.
Fitbit Flex
The affordable Fitbit Flex is a smart pedometer which tracks your steps and syncs data to a smartphone (where it can also be shared with apps such as MyFitnessPal).
Having daily step goals can encourage you to get up and go for a walk a few times a day, it’s also useful for tracking running or other impact sports (though not quite as adept at activities like cycling). It might lack the fancy interface of a smartwatch but it does mean the Flex will go for a week on a single charge.
Samsung Gear Fit2
After a fitness tracker that’s got a bit more going on that the Fitbit Flex? The new Samsung Gear Fit2 is a high tech fitness-focused smartwatch which not only counts steps but includes GPS tracking and a heart rate monitor to provide instant feedback on your activities. It also boasts a slick design with smart wraparound display which is a lot more discreet than other smartwatches.
Headspace
If you’re finding yourself overwhelmed with studying taking a break to have some quiet time is important. Meditation is considered to have many benefits for your general state of mind, including helping you to get a better night’s sleep.
Headspace is an app which teaches meditation, and all it takes is 10 minutes of your time each day. The free app includes a ten lesson course, with further lessons available for a fee if you want to learn more.
Withings Body & Body Cardio
