It is very common to hear that lawyers work very long hours, where they are forced to spend more than 8 hours a day on their professional tasks, even up to 12 hours resolving high-priority matters.
It is obvious to think that this pace of life brings with it many problems that affect the health of these professionals, and we are not only talking about their physical well-being, but also about their important mental health. Long working hours and competition between colleagues lead to high levels of stress, little sleep, unhealthy eating habits, as well as more serious issues such as depression and anxiety.
This is not only true for adults who have been in the legal world for years. Younger people also suffer from this damage to their health. From the very first moment they feel a lot of pressure, they work more than double the hours assigned in their contract with a high level of demand, unattainable objectives and they are hardly given time to rest.
The Study on the Health and Wellbeing of the Spanish Legal Profession 2019, conducted by Lefebvre and the Institute of Mental Health of the Legal Profession (ISMA), yields alarming data, such as that 80% of male and female lawyers suffer from stress and sleep less than 6 hours a day.
There are many technological tools designed to improve working conditions in different companies. From instant messaging or video calling applications to more complex platforms, such as Bounsel, that increase productivity by reducing time spent on monotonous and bureaucratic tasks. We are talking about tools that help eliminate errors, promote good communication and collaboration or improve team and company management (among other advantages) and whose objective is to reduce the negative effects that work has directly on health.
But today we want to introduce you to 7 mobile applications to improve your well-being. Applications to include healthy habits in the routine and achieve a better balance between mind and body, as well as to achieve work-life balance.
Food
One of the biggest problems of long working hours and the hectic pace of life is the lack of time for cooking. We tend to eat the first thing we see in the fridge or buy ready-made food at any bar or fast food restaurant.
Taking care of our diet is essential to feel good both inside and out. Diet has a significant influence on the diseases and health problems that appear in our body and, in turn, on our physical condition, on our energy, on having a “good face” (as it is often said) and feeling active. Some applications for a healthy diet are:
MyRealFood
This app is one of the top applications of the moment. It is free and has different options: from scanning foods in the supermarket to obtain information about them (if they are ultra-processed, sugar or fat levels, etc.), to healthy recipes, personalized meal plans, setting goals or organizing your shopping. A very complete app to take care of what you eat and follow a good routine.
Ekilu
Ekilu is another application for a balanced diet. But the highlight of it is that it offers a wide variety of healthy recipes from the ingredients you have in the fridge, tell it what you feel like eating today or what ingredients you have at home and the app will provide you with the best options. In addition, you can set weight goals and track your weight, discover lots of healthy recipes, create your weekly menus and make your shopping list based on what you really need. In addition to tips and advice for a healthy lifestyle and sports, we also offer
Physical Activity
In order to have a healthy body and a healthy life, it is necessary to find a balance between nutrition and physical activity. Both complement each other and allow for that much desired feeling of well-being. Doing sports allows us to release tension and keep our body active, as well as to promote sleep, improve flexibility, muscles, endurance and a lot of other benefits that we all know about.
However, not all of us like to do sports, much less are we good at them. But there are many ways to exercise the body, we just have to find the one that best suits our physical condition and our lifestyle.
Nike Training Club
This free app created by the renowned sports brand Nike offers HIIT, fitness and yoga sessions. From home and just by using your cell phone you can set your goals to lose weight, gain muscle or whatever you need. They also offer training plans, tips and exercises adapted to all fitness levels. And the best thing is that you can adapt the routines to the time you have each day, even if you can only dedicate 15 minutes to your workout today, you will have a session prepared for you.
Strava GPS
If you want to join the running trend, Strava is the perfect app for you. Designed for running, cycling or outdoor sports. This app allows you to record your activity, compare your performance over time and share your results and achievements with other members of the community or on your social networks. You will be able to make a complete tracking of the exercise performed, measuring speed, distance, pace, elevation gain and calories. And the best part is that you can connect it with your electronic devices, such as smartwatches.
Mi Fit
A complete application to track your activity. You can log it, analyze your sleep and evaluate your workouts. You will get recommendations to optimize your workouts based on your data, improve your sleep quality, as well as track your performance progress.
Sleep
We work a lot and sleep little, that is a reality and it is very difficult to change it. But it is up to us to ensure that sleep time is real rest time. A high level of stress, pressure and anxiety, added to the constant stimuli of everyday life, the use of electronic devices and all the personal concerns that we may have, in many occasions, lead to loss of sleep. Hours of tossing and turning in bed until falling asleep, constantly staying up all night or waking up every day before the alarm clock goes off are some of the things that happen to us every day. There are many applications that help us to relax and rest in order to support the frenetic pace of life of our days. Here are some of them:
Calm
Calm is an app to meditate and fall asleep faster and longer. It features guided meditations, bedtime stories, breathing programs, master classes and relaxing music. All this, adaptable to your wishes and needs, you can choose the duration of the programs, whether you want guided meditation with time limits or not, Daily Calm sessions to facilitate relaxation, etc. Lots of options to reduce stress, calm anxiety and get a deep and restful sleep.
Meditopia
Along the same lines as Calm, Meditopia is one of the most recommended applications for meditation and sleep. Includes more than 1,000 deep immersion meditations in 9 different languages. They are based on self-acceptance of all personal experiences to achieve tranquility and eliminate stress. Meditations, relaxing music, stories for adults, inspirational phrases and all the resources they offer make up the necessary tools to create a long-term relaxation and rest routine. And this is not all, it is evident that the light from cell phones and the constant activity we carry in them, is a determining factor that negatively affects sleep and calm. So Meditopia allows you to activate the dark mode that reduces the glare of the phone screen and facilitates relaxation.
Leading a healthy and balanced life is not easy and, as you can see, although many times the excessive use of technology is to blame for our state of anxiety, stress or fatigue, it is also a weapon to fight against them. Using it in the right way and including the right apps in our daily lives contributes to wellness.
