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If, like us, you’re struggling to stay sharp whilst working from home, these apps are on hand to help…
By Virgin TV Edit
Fun as it may be to now have a personal supply of “office snacks” in a dedicated room of their own within feet of your desk (AKA, the kitchen), working from home has the strange tendency to drain your brain of energy and send productivity into a nose-dive, at times.
Similarly, switching your brain from work-mode to home-mode come the evenings is also a challenge in and of itself when your “work spot” is a mere hop, skip and weary, worm-like slide away from your sofa.
As such, we thought it’d be good idea to assemble a handy list of app-solutely fantastic, completely free apps that will stave off those afternoon dips, keep your mind focused throughout the day and help you unwind before bedtime and bathtime are on the cards, and a night in front of the telly begins.
So, get reading, downloading and breathing in… and outtttt in no time…
1. Headspace
As we’ve already mentioned before, we love Headspace. An easy to use, intuitive interface and oh-so-calming exercises and guided meditations make this a go-to app for when you need to inject some much-needed calm back into your day. See you at the Midnight Laundrette (if you know, you know).
2. One Brain
Both sides of your brain are given a quick yet thorough tune-up with this surprisingly addictive little brain-training app. Simply choose whether or not the colour on screen matches the text in the centre to kick your grey matter into gear. Be warned – it’s harder than you think!
3. Peak
A whopping 40 minigames will help your brain reach its “peak” performance levels. Each game was designed and developed alongside neuroscientists and cognitive experts, so there is a whole lot of science in this useful little app.
4. Mensa Brain Training
Your brain’s memory, concentration, agility, perception and reasoning are all put through their paces with this detailed brain-training app’s daily exercises, all developed by boffins from the eponymous high IQ society.
5. Happify
Stresses, worries and general mental discomfort are all given the heave-ho with Happify, another pleasingly simple app that uses science-based activities and games to help dispel negative thoughts, behaviours, and (hopefully) increase the user’s sense of happiness. Well worth a try.
6. GEIST (Memorando)
Mindfulness and brain-training go hand in hand with GEIST (or, as it’s for some reason known on Google Play Store, Memorando), where brain-tickling games give your cognitive know-how a boost, while calming, audio relaxation stories help you unwind. Did someone say “Ahhhhhhhhh…”?
7. Insight Timer
Guided meditations from some of the world’s top experts makes Insight Timer not only a must-have app, but it also ensures you’ll be well and truly on your way to joining the meditation nation. Some seriously calming shores await if it ever it feels like things are getting a bit too much.
8. Smiling Mind
Much like Insight Timer, Smiling Mind can be used for a multitude of reasons and age-groups, plus it offers a vast array of guided meditations for users to choose from, all of which are designed to keep your mind in tip-top shape and as calm as can be.
9. Elevate
Though “Elevate” may sound like a dance troop on Britain’s Got Talent, this ridiculously detailed app gives your mind a serious workout and tracks your progress as it does so, with games and exercises fine-tuning your brain’s focus, processing speed, memory, maths skills and so, so much more.
10. The Mindfulness App
In an app that pretty much does exactly what it says on the tin, The Mindfulness App uses guided meditations to help you de-stress, stay calm, improve focus and, if need be, even send you off into a nice, snooze-filled sleep. Zzzzzz…
11. Luminosity
Whether you’re a fan of sudokus, crosswords or prefer a more straightforward, story-based mobile gaming experience, Luminosity, we think, is the best of all those worlds. For fun games that test your mind to its fullest, this one’s definitely worth a download if your focus has (understandably) become an issue of late.
