Over the last few years, the space of mental health care has seen a noticeable rise in prevalence. And for good reason. The world looks a lot different from the one we knew prior to 2020, and with the increased awareness around mental health issues, along with growing access to tools that help us manage our stress, anxiety, and depression, it’s no wonder that we’ve been able to find new ways to keep our minds at ease.
Still, not everyone has the means to afford bi-weekly sessions while others simply need an introduction to therapy that they can ease into and manage for themselves. It takes time to get comfortable with the idea of spilling out all our deepest traumas and mental hurdles. And now, thanks to new and emerging telehealth and online therapy options, finding moments throughout the day to pause, reflect, and reclaim a sense of mindfulness has never been easier.
According to research, mental health apps have the potential to serve as an effective complement to traditional therapy and assist in addressing individual wellness needs. Additionally, mental health apps have been shown to help monitor and manage a person’s moods and symptoms.
Finding the right apps that speak to your needs and support you along your mental health journey is a great way to prioritize your well-being, even if it’s just for a few minutes a day. From guided meditations to habit trackers, we’ve put together a wide range of mental health apps that cater to your unique needs to clear your mind and calm your thoughts.
1.BlackFULLness
BlackFULLness is a unique mental health app created by Sonia Russell and David Walker. This groundbreaking app is dedicated to promoting mindfulness practices that support stress reduction and healing justice, while also fostering a sense of community and connection among African-American users. With BlackFULLness, users can establish and maintain their own mindfulness practices, connect directly with health experts, and elevate their practice to new heights.
2.Headspace
Headspace has been coveted as the best introductory app for those getting into mindfulness and medication. The app strives to incorporate mindfulness meditation into your life in order to improve concentration, elevate moods, reduced anxiety, and increased productivity. The Headspace’s library is full of resources that include single meditations, session packs, and even animated meditations that cater to all levels of experience and needs.
3.Ayana Therapy
This digital platform puts our mental health needs to the front by pairing users with licensed therapists with shared cultural traits, identities, and experiences. To ensure the best matches for starting their mental health journey, new users can take culturally informed questionnaires to ensure that they feel safe and seen.
4.Healthy Minds Program App
Healthy Minds Program App blends the insights of neuroscience, contemplative traditions, and skill-based learning to create accessible resources that promote well-being for all. With a focus on four key pillars of a healthy mind, awareness, connection, insight, and purpose, this app has you covered whether you're seeking calm in the midst of chaos, clarity in uncertain times, or mindfulness for sleep.
5.Liberate App
Experience meditation designed with you in mind. With its focus on promoting daily meditation habits, this digital wellness studio offers a range of meditations and discussions that are tailored specifically to the Black experience. Its "meditation for us, by us" approach provides a unique and supportive environment that can help you achieve a better mental state and foster a deeper sense of connection and belonging.
6.Bearable
The Bearable app goes beyond tracking your symptoms and allows you to engage in wellness journaling, set medication reminders, and keep track of your food intake. Bearable’s approach to mental health apps helps you to see what triggers may be impacting your mind so you can gain a holistic perspective on your physical and mental well-being.
7.Slumber
Getting a good night's rest is essential for our overall well-being, but sometimes falling asleep can feel like an uphill battle when you have distractions all around. The Slumber app helps you to power down your mind and create a healthy evening that encourages calm and relaxation. Slumber offers a variety of techniques that promote relaxation and encourage ease into your sleep such as ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), mindfulness, breath control, gratitude habituation, guided imagery and visualizations and more so you never run out of ways to doze off.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Tony Anderson/Getty Images
Originally published on March 22, 2023
RELATED
Anyway, I have watched enough of Christiana’s content to know that she and her husband Arismarlyn Sabino eat pretty healthy. She works out a lot too. That’s why, I would be super surprised if taking probiotics isn’t a part of her diet (because I’ve definitely seen her use fermented foods in her recipes like in this videohere). It’s a wise thing to do because probiotics do so much for the body — both inside and out.
Either way, whether she does or not, as I was thinking about what is required to have healthy, youthful, and vibrant skin like hers, I wanted to make sure to give probiotics a special mention because, although you may already know that they can help to strengthen your immune system, reduce your stress levels, manage your weight, decrease allergy-related symptoms and help to prevent heart disease, they can also do wonders when it comes to giving you the flawless skin that you desire too.
What Are Probiotics and Why Does Your Skin Adore Them So?
Getty Images
Although probiotics is a word that comes up quite a bit in cyberspace, in order to explain how your skin is able to flourish with them, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page about what they are: probiotics are live microorganisms (in the form of bacteria and yeast) that help to keep your gut in good condition which ultimately helps to improve every part of you. Because your body naturally has both good and bad bacteria in it, probiotics help to keep the bad bacteria from overtaking your system, so that the good bacteria can help to keep you in optimal condition.
Although I already shared some of probiotics’ health benefits in the intro, some additional ones include their ability to reduce inflammation; help you to (better) manage your appetite; help to prevent and speed up the recovery of vaginal infections and urinary tract infections (UTIs); decrease the chances of cavities and gum disease; support you having a healthy digestive tract; lower stress and anxiety levels; help to keep your blood pressure where it should be — and yes, probiotics can also support you in having beautiful skin.
When it comes to your skin, specifically, why are probiotics so good for it? Well, the reality is that not only is 80 percent of your immunity in your gut (check out “80% Of Your Immunity Is In Your Gut. Take Care Of It Like This.”), it’s also true that when your gut is not working at its best, it can show through your skin in a myriad of different ways — ways that I will address in just a moment.
That’s why it’s a good idea to eat foods that are full of probiotics (including fermented ones like pickles, yogurt, and cheese), and that you consider taking a probiotic supplement (although you might want to speak with your doctor first because there are different strains of probiotics to choose from) and, that you use skincare products that are also rich in probiotics. As far as that last tip goes, probiotic skincare is simply about putting forth the intentional effort to apply products to your face, neck, and other parts of your body that have probiotics — yes, live bacteria — in them.
When it comes to this, the strains that you should specifically look for (you know, on the labels of the products) include:
- Lactococcus
- Bifida
- Streptococcus thermophilus
- Saccharomyces
- Lactobacillus
- Leuconostoc
The reason why you should take note of these is they are reportedly the most effective at doing the following things for your skin…
Getty Images
1.Probiotics Can Reduce Dry Skin
If it seems like, no matter what you do, your skin is always dry, you should consider taking a probiotic. What research reveals is, that by doing so, not only can probiotics help to decrease transcutaneous water loss (TEWL) that’s in your system, but they can also reduce the amount of water that your skin loses throughout the day by strengthening your skin’s barrier (more on that later).
As far as which probiotics you should apply to your skin in order to keep dryness at bay, look for the strain that is called Vitreoscilla; it will help to strengthen your skin’s barrier and reduce dryness as a direct result.
2. Probiotics Can Soothe Eczema and Psoriasis
If eczema or psoriasis flare-ups are what’s driving you up the wall, probiotics can help with that. The science behind this is, that when you have these types of health-related issues, it can lead to inflammation as well as a different type of bacteria in your gut (in comparison to those who don’t have eczema or psoriasis). By taking a probiotic, it can reduce the inflammation and alter the bacteria that you have which can, in turn, reduce the symptoms.
And just what kind of probiotic-based skincare products can help with this? Strains likeBifidobacterium lactis and Lactobacillus acidophilus currently show the most promise.
3. Probiotics Can Speed Up the Healing Process of Breakouts
I’m telling you, if you want to look and feel better, you’ve got to pay more attention to your gut health. Take breakouts, for example. Did you know science says that the condition of your gut and acne actually on hand in hand? The gist is that when the gut’s microbe is not where it should be, that can trigger inflammation which oftentimes results in pimples forming.
This is just one more reason to add a probiotic to your diet and to apply probiotic skincare strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus or Bifidobacterium bifidum to your skin; they help to reduce breakouts.
Getty Images
4. Probiotics Can Balance Your Skin’s pH
If you’ve ever wondered what pH stands for, it’s “potential hydrogen;” it basically speaks to how acidic or alkaline something is. When it comes to your skin, this matters because if it’s too acidic or alkaline (which basically means basic), that can result in dry skin, itchiness, inflammation, sensitivity, and other skin-related issues. That said, if your skin is healthy, it will have a pH of somewhere around 5.5 which is slightly acidic. And how can you know what your skin’s pH is?
The best way to test this is by booking an appointment with a dermatologist. However, if you notice some of the symptoms that I just mentioned, take a probiotic and see if your skin improves within a few weeks. Oh, and when it comes to sensitive skin, especially, skincare that has Streptococcus thermophilus in it should be able to help you out by elevating the ceramide levels that are in your skin.
5. Probiotics Can Improve Your Skin’s Barrier
The outermost layer of your skin is your skin’s barrier — and it goes through a lot. In fact, a Healthline article that I read on it stated, “This fantastically thin brick wall is literally keeping you alive. Without it, various harmful environmental toxins and pathogens could penetrate your skin and cause adverse effects inside your body.” Therefore, if there is anything that you should want to go almost overboard about in maintaining, your skin’s barrier would be it.
And since it is the “front line of defense” for your skin, in a lot of ways, that means your skin’s barrier is vulnerable to things like rough skin, itchy skin, fungal infections and inflammation. It’s a good thing that probiotics can help with strengthening your skin’s barrier so that there is less of a chance that these things will happen. A list of some of the best probiotics for your skin’s barrier can be found here. The types of bacteria strains (probiotics) to look for in skincare as it relates to your skin’s barrier are Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Vitreoscilla.
6. Probiotics Can Reduce UV Damage
It can’t be said enough that everyone needs to be proactive when it comes to keeping their skin from experiencing UV damage (which is damage that the sun causes). Believe it or not, probiotics can help in this department as well because they can help to reduce oxidative stress, and inflammation and they also help to protect your skin’s barrier while you are outdoors. As far as your skincare plan, your best bet here would be to look for sunscreens that have probiotics in them. COOLA is one brand that many people are fond of.
Getty Images
7. Probiotics Can Slow Down the Signs of Aging
One more. Although aging is a natural part of life (that should be embraced, by the way), when you factor in things like the years of what the sun can do; the loss of elastin and collagen over time; the shifts in pH balance; the fluctuations of your hormones; the damage that comes from oxidative stress; the decrease in melanocytes (pigment cells); the less natural oil that your skin produces; the natural fat layers that begin to thin out more and more — if nothing else will convince you to be hypervigilant in taking care of your skin, all of this stuff should.
And yes, probiotics can even assist with slowing down the signs of aging in your skin because, thanks to what is known as the skin-gut axis, the more good bacteria that are in your gut, the less inflammation your skin will experience, the more elasticity it will have and the less oxidative stress that it will go through.
So, definitely take a probiotic for this and look for skincare products that contain the strain known as Bacillus coagulans. It’s directly connected to helping your skin to age at a slower rate, so that your skin is looking fabulous, from the inside out, for many years to come.
All this from probiotics? Yep.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by AlexanderFord/Getty Images