Let’s face it, the last few years have been anxiety inducing for even the most calm, cool, and collected among us! When it comes to reducing stress and anxiety, everyone from the very old to the very young can benefit from another tool in their belt. Experts recommend meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and calming music as good ways to illicit a calming response. Another vital aspect to mental well-being is getting enough sleep through practices that include good sleep hygiene. Luckily there are apps for all of these activities! Below find some of the best apps to combat anxiety and reduce stress—for both students and adults.
This app has it all: a mindfulness journal, meditations, nature sounds, life coaching, and more. (iOS, Android)
Breathe2Relax
Breathe2Relax helps you learn the stress management skill called diaphragmatic breathing to manage your breaths. For a more thorough evaluation of your breathing, the app also connects with HealthKit and your Apple Watch device to measure your heart rate. (iOS, Android)
Breathwrk helps to alleviate anxiety, increase energy, improve focus, and help you fall asleep … and we could all use a little help getting to sleep each night. With the Breathwrk app, you’ll use guided exercises to take deeper, guided breaths. (iOS, Android)
Millions of users use the Calm app for meditation. Start by entering in your needs for calm, and get personalized results for your daily meditation. Also, try out their Sleep Stories to fall asleep faster at night. (iOS, Android)
Adult coloring books are known for helping to ease anxiety. This app takes the coloring to a digital environment, but the soothing effects are the same. (iOS, Android)
Find out your happiness score and start improving it today. Find science-based activities, meditations, and games to play to soothe your mind and up your happiness! (iOS, Android)
This app is totally free thanks to UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC)‘s dedication to accessibility. In addition to the variety of meditations on the app, it also features informative videos and a weekly podcast. (iOS, Android)
Meditation is key, and Headspace is probably one of the most notable apps to help start meditating. It comes with guided and unguided meditations to help you soothe any anxiety. The app comes with 10 free sessions, and then you’ll need to subscribe. (iOS, Android)
This game offers a similar calming affect to Colorfy. Spend some time unwinding after a stressful day by decorating interior spaces all from the comfort of your device. While you can spend real money to up your inventory, the option to play for free is also available. (iOS, Android)
Nature Sounds Relax and Sleep
Fall asleep to the soothing sounds of rain, waves, or even a crackling fire with this relaxation app. (iOS, Android)
This app is the ultimate sleep tool for Apple users since it contains sleep-stage analysis, a smart alarm, audio recordings, sleep meditations, and other sleep aids. (iOS)
Another coloring app! Because really, one isn’t enough. Similar to meditation, the app helps you turn your brain off so you can focus on the present moment. (iOS, Android, Kindle)
This unique app combines both audio and visual meditation to soothe you to sleep or induce a relaxation response. Not sure if it is for you? Try the free three-day trial before subscribing. (iOS, Android)
This anxiety journal is the perfect companion piece to your regular cogitative behavioral therapy. The founder, who suffers from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), created this app to help others reframe their worries. There’s also an associated blog and podcast. (iOS, Android)
Balloon Breathing Game
Empower kids to calm down by using these balloons to inhale and exhale. (iOS)
Apps to combat anxiety can include play-based ones like My Oasis. Users create an island that they inhabit with plants and animals through simple game controls. While even adults can play this game, we think kids will especially enjoy creating an island while listening to the pleasant sound effects and music. (iOS, Android)
The soothing soundscapes, meditations, and stories in this app will have your child falling asleep in no time. We especially love that new content is added on a regular basis. (iOS, Android)
Yoga definitely helps center kids and bring them back to the present. Cosmic Kids Yoga takes kids on magical adventures so they stay entertained and focused. (iOS, Android)
Dandelion Breathing Game
Breathing through pursed lips allows you to exhale longer and consequently calm down. Although you can teach this type of breathing without a visual, kids will enjoy practicing on these soothing dandelion flowers. (iOS)
MindShift
This app is targeted to help adolescents, teens, and young adults gain insight into and basic skills to manage anxiety. It contains educational information about common sources and symptoms of worry, anxiety, and panic, and has a checklist for users to complete to help determine the types of anxiety they most commonly face. (iOS, Android)
This app features four positive penguins that help children understand that feelings come from their own thoughts rather than situations. Kids learn to challenge negative thoughts and therefore see things more optimistically. (iOS)
Fall asleep fast thanks to soothing melodies, with a section especially for kids. Get nice and cozy and then choose from a variety of sounds, meditations, and bedtime stories. (iOS, Android)
Sleep Meditations for Kids
Created for children of all ages, this app guides kids to the creative part of their mind through a number of carefully scripted story meditations. (iOS)
Daily mindfulness and meditation for kids and adults. (iOS, Android)
This app has a little bit of everything for your kiddo including meditations, affirmations, and sleep stories. Best of all, they offer steep discounts for schools and other organizations that work primarily with children. (iOS, Android)
There is something for all kids from ages 0 to 10 on this award-winning app. It includes stories, meditations, sounds, music, and more. (iOS, Android)
Sesame Street has played a vital role in the childhoods of generations of children, and with advances in the internet, that role has expanded even further. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or school psychologist who works with very young children, this app will help teach mindfulness, deescalation techniques, and even conflict resolution. All this while using the wonderful and recognizable characters from every child’s favorite show. (iOS, Android)
This app can help kids or even adults recognize patterns in their feelings and thoughts so that they can begin to enact positive changes. It expands upon the five primary emotions of anger, anticipation, fear, joy, and sadness to find the exact category of feeling and build emotional intelligence along the way. (iOS, Android)
This app uses stories to teach kids to recognize what is going on in their own head before their emotions get the best of them. We especially love the character Flibbertigibbet, whom kids can fidget with on the screen to induce the rest-and-digest response within themselves. (iOS)
