World Mental Health Day: How Apple Prioritized Wellness in Its Brand New Updates
RIYADH: How much would you be willing to give up in order to have a lifetime of emotional wellbeing? While it doesn’t cost that much to take advantage of, more and more people are willing to take or find the time to invest in their minds.
We live in the age of readily available distractions, and the ongoing nature of the pandemic has made us even more technology addict. Even if it has eased the rigors of repeated bans; We picked up some unproductive tech habits, and our phone became a magnet drawing us to check for missed work emails or breaking news, or even social media updates. The pandemic has increased our reliance on technology, but like food intake, scheduled ingestion can help. Research has shown that the average person spends more than five hours a day on a device. Someone who works from home or is studying a lot more.
Although difficult to visibly identify or quantify with medical readings, mental health affects a person’s overall well-being and stability. And as technology companies are increasingly criticized for their role, real or perceived, in damaging our mental health, there is pressure to find solutions.
To that end, Apple already has a full health-promoting lineup, including the Apple Watch, Apple Fitness +, and the Health app, but it seems the tech giant is putting even more emphasis on wellness, and mental health in particular, with New Features. Some of you may already be familiar with some of the existing “wellness” features like Screen Time, an iPhone app that keeps track of the time a user spends on their device, and Breathe, an Apple Watch app that helps users through a short deep breathing exercise.
We’re highlighting new health and wellness features for iPhone and Apple Watch that you might be interested in, which will help you keep your sanity!
iOS 15
Apple’s latest operating system offers “new ways to stay connected and powerful features to help users focus, explore, and do more with the intelligence on the device.” This brings major updates to FaceTime, a new “focus” feature to reduce distraction, and more ways to explore the world with maps, weather, and wallet.
focus
“Focus is a new feature that filters notifications and apps based on what a user wants to focus on. Customers can set their device to help them be in the moment by creating a custom focus or choosing a suggested focus that uses on-device intelligence to suggest which people and apps they can notify, “says Apple .
Apple also introduced a new notification experience that lets you filter notifications based on how important they are to each individual user. Regarding the new features, Apple says: “To reduce the distraction, a new notification summary collects non-time-sensitive notifications for delivery at a more convenient time, for example in the morning and in the evening. Using on-device intelligence, notifications are prioritized, with the most relevant notifications at the top and based on a user’s interactions with apps. Urgent messages are delivered instantly so important messages don’t end up in the summary, and it’s easy to temporarily mute any app or messaging thread for the next hour or day. “
Health for the whole family
With the health app, you can already set up emergency contacts and note down important information such as blood type, allergies, heart health and sleep. Now you can share this information with your family with a “new sharing tab that allows users to share their health information with family members, caregivers, or a care team.” That should bring you some reassurance
watchOS
Apple Watch users will be happy about updates that offer “better access with Wallet, more functions with the Home app, new types of training and an updated Breathe app”.
New trainings
Apple Fitness + is an incredible personal trainer on the wrist, but two new types of workouts are designed to make it even better for the mind and body. Tai Chi and Pilates are popular exercises for balance, breathing, and mood enhancement. Apple says, “These new types of workouts are powered by powerful, validated, bespoke heart rate and movement algorithms to provide users with accurate readings.”
Breathe and reflect
Apple Watch users will be familiar with the Breathe app, but in the future this will become a whole new mindfulness offering. “Today, more than ever, people are realizing the importance of finding small moments in their day in order to be more mindful. In watchOS 8, the Breathe app becomes the Mindfulness App, offering an improved Breathe experience as well as a new session type, Reflect, and thought-provoking question designed to remove the distractions around you and help you stay centered and Feeling refreshed, for example: “Think about something that you are grateful for and why you appreciate it so much”.
Breathing rate during sleep
You can already track your sleep and heart rate, but the new software will help users keep achieving sleep goals by tracking sleep breathing rate, the number of breaths per minute.