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Best Youtube Fitness Channel 2023

Working out from home has become the norm over the past few years. While gyms gave us coaches and support, it became more convenient to train, with or without equipment, in the comfort of our living rooms. When it comes to learning new cardio fitness moves and sets, we tend to turn to platforms like YouTube and Netflix.

The only problem is that YouTube is saturated with thousands of channels offering fitness advice and training schedules. To get you off to a good start in 2023, we’ve made a list of some of the best Youtube fitness channels.

Pamela Reif

When it comes to trying different forms of workouts for a few minutes each day, check out Pamela Reif’s YouTube channel. There’s an array of top-quality videos, showcasing yoga, dance training, HIIT, and much more. With her catalog of intense YouTube fitness videos, she also supplies exciting music to accompany your exercises.

Natacha Oceane

With a PhD behind her name, Natacha Ocean takes a more scientific approach to exercising. She spends time researching how each workout type helps the body remain fit. She even goes as far as checking research and scientific papers before attempting any of the exercises herself, informing you on her findings. You’ll find plenty of workouts to try on her YouTube channel.

Grow With Jo

If you like aerobic types of exercises, check out the Grow with Jo YouTube channel. While she has a variety of styles, the walking workout is probably one of the more popular ones. It doesn’t require rigorous sets or training, and you can ease yourself to the right pace. It certainly helps you get all those steps you need to record on your fitness watch.

Yoga With Adriene

Are you looking to remain fit in your home by meditating and stretching your body? Yoga with Adriene offers YouTube videos that show you different forms and styles, keeping your body fit, mind strong, and heart healthy. These exercises will also help you feel less stiff from working in your home office all day and take that pain from your back.

Men’s Health YouTube

The Men’s Health magazine has been popular for many years in several countries. Now, you can enjoy YouTube videos of how celebrities remain fit for their movies. Also, it looks at eating the right way, mental and emotional fitness, and other aspects that will keep you healthy in life.

Women’s Health YouTube

There’s also a Women’s Health YouTube channel. In the same way, you’ll read about eating the right types of food, different workout techniques, and also the best clothes to wear while training. You’ll also see Body Scan videos to see how celebrities stayed in shape, and some content about what to keep in your fridge between training sessions.

Popular Intermittent Fasting Schedules and Apps For Weight Loss

Intermittent fasting has been gaining a lot of ground lately, especially with some of the top actors and athletes. It finds a balanced area between hard fasting and eating what you want, making sure you don’t over- or undereat. It’s also a great way of managing your diet with a schedule.

In this quick article, I’ll explain more on what IF is in more detail, some of the top dieting methods used, and the top intermittent fasting apps to look at. It may just help you with your weight loss or exercise goals for 2023.

What is intermittent fasting?

Do you know the hardcore method of fasting for several hours or days on end? It’s not really a healthy way to lose weight, as it teaches your body to store fat when you do eat again, preventing starvation. Intermittent fasting lets you exchange periods of fasting and eating at set intervals instead. When the food window opens, you can eat what you want.

That’s why so many celebrities like it, and probably why you see Dwayne Johnson shoveling pancakes and burgers all at once on a Sunday on Instagram.

Intermittent Fasting Schedules and Apps For Weight Loss

Popular intermittent fasting methods

There are a few intermittent fasting techniques, as one size doesn’t fit all in this scenario. You can use a fasting calculator to determine the best options of IF methods for you, with the first one being the most popular:

16:8 – Fasting for 16 hours with an 8-hour period for eating delicious meals, which means a late breakfast and an early dinner.
5:2 – You eat as you normally would for five days, while for the other 2 days, you cut back about 20% of your standard daily calorie intake.
14:10 – It’s basically the same as the 16:8 diet, but you’ll have more time to eat and less time fasting. You can have your breakfast earlier, but you’ll stop eating by 8 pm.
Alternate days: As the name says, you’ll eat like normal one day, then fast the entire next day, and so on. The alternative is that you only eat a few calories on alternate days
Eat-stop-eat: In this method, you’ll follow the daily motto of E-S-E, which means eating one day, fasting completely the next, then eating the next day again. You’ll start again. That means, you’ll have two days in a row of eating, but only a singular day of fasting in between.
Warrior Diet: This technique is quite different from the others. You’ll start your day snacking on small fruits and vegetables, while you can have one massive meal between 4 pm and 8 pm. It’s not ideal for people who need energy for training or work, but fasting at night helps.

Top IF apps for weight loss

There are two apps I can recommend if you want to try this form of dieting. Fastic: Intermittent Fasting has some of the methods indicated above, incorporating a timer that will let you know when to eat and fast. Zero – Intermittent Fasting has similar features, and you can easily track your goals on the application.

Best YouTube channels to train at home

These YouTube channels all have plenty of great content that will help you get fit and stay healthy.

Today we’re finishing our look at all the best apps and accounts you need in your life if you want to stay fit and healthy while stuck indoors. We’ve looked at mindfulness and meditation apps, Instagram accounts for workouts, workout apps, and now today we’re looking at the best YouTube channels you want to subscribe to for all the best workouts.

If you think about it, YouTube is the perfect place to get your workouts from. The video platform places no limitations on what your workout gurus can do. You can get massive workouts that last for hours, quick High-Intensity Interval workouts, Yoga and Pilates sessions, and even weeks or months-long courses that have specific fitness and health-based goals in mind. Let’s get into it then. These are the best workout channels on YouTube.

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YouTube Go is a free, official app from Google that provides a variety of features that make the YouTube more bandwidth-conscious and help avoid buffering while on the go.

Best YouTube Home workout fitness channels

Check out all the best YouTube channels to subscribe to for workouts and fitness and health routines.

Adam Rosante

Adam Rosante’s YouTube channel offers a series of very accessible workouts for fitness enthusiasts of all levels. These quick sessions last anywhere between five and twenty minutes and are extremely challenging. There’s definitely something for everyone here with routines utilizing your own body weight rather than relying on expensive equipment. There are strength training routines, however, that will incorporate a dumbbell here or there, but there’s certainly a lot here for anybody who doesn’t have any home gym equipment.

The other great thing about this YouTube channel is just how welcoming and warm Rosante is. He has a great attitude that is infectious too. This will help to keep you motivated even when he’s pushing through some pretty painful sets and reps. This channel is all about pushing yourself to your limit.

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Joanna Soh

Joanna Soh is a long-established personal trainer who has brought plenty of her workout routines and circuits to YouTube. Her YouTube channel is full of all sorts of different workout videos including sessions on Pilates, abs development and full-body strength, kickboxing, and more. What’s great too for anybody working out at home is that Joanna also releases great videos focusing on things like an indoor steps challenge and even performing full-body workouts while in a seated position.

As well as all of Joanna’s fitness videos she also goes the extra mile by producing videos on food, diet, and nutrition as well as looking at equipment and even clothing. Going even further, Joanna also offers tips and tricks on living a healthy lifestyle while living on a tight budget and she is also on a mission to bust all the common myths about weight loss that might be standing in your way. If you’re looking for a complete YouTube channel that gives you more than just workout videos, this is it.

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Tone It Up

Tone it Up is another great YouTube channel that has been founded by well-known fitness gurus Karena Dawn and Katrina Scott. If you’re stuck at home, this channel will definitely have lots for you as it offers workouts that intelligently utilize many standard household items and pieces of furniture like coffee tables and office chairs.

Subscribing to this channel will get you hundreds of great videos covering all manner of different types of workouts such as HIIT workouts (High-Intensity Interval Training) as well as focused sessions that target areas like your arms, abs chest, and lower body. You’ll also find plenty of videos covering diet and nutrition too, which are just as important as the workout videos, if not more so, for anybody looking to shed a few pounds and get in better shape.

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Blogilates

Blogilates has been live on YouTube for over ten years. This means there is a wealth of resources here for anybody looking to give their health and fitness a boost. What’s also great for anybody stuck at home is that all of these routines only require one piece of equipment, a Yoga mat. If you don’t have a Yoga mat, you could simply use a towel, meaning there’s nothing standing in the way of you starting a Blogilates session right now.

As you’d expect from the title there is a lot here that focuses on Pop Pilates stretches but the channel actually goes a lot further covering everything from healthy recipes to common problems and issues experienced by people trying to get in shape. There’s also plenty of great content about how to deal with your own position in the fitness world and cope with the aesthetic pressures modern society puts us under. Cassey Ho, who is behind the channel is like your supportive, funny, and knowledgeable friend, there to guide you on your fitness journey.

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BodyRock TV

BodyRock TV puts out daily fitness videos covering many different types of workout. The aim of the game here is bodyweight exercises meaning anybody can get started with these routines at home immediately, without the need to buy expensive equipment. The workouts on this channel are quite intense, however, and not for the faint-hearted. You’ll get walkthrough guides to plenty of routines as well as all sorts of twists on common exercises.

The channel also plenty of content about healthy recipes, adjusting to a nutritious diet, and keeping on top of your calorie intake. On top of all that, you’ll also find the odd video showing exercise that requires some basic equipment like dumbbells if you want to give them a try.

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Wrapping up

Starting a new healthy lifestyle at home really is easy on YouTube with plenty of great channels offering you a lot of amazing health-inspired content. The video platform really is the best place to start your new journey to a healthier lifestyle and a fitter body. If you’re stuck at home, there’s nothing better you can do than subscribe to one of the channels we’ve mentioned and start working through their videos. You won’t regret it.

Top 5 apps to help you relax

Stressed? Let these apps take the edge off.

Life can be hectic, and we all need ways to unwind. Kick your feet up, grab a snack, and check out our top 5 picks for mobile meditation apps that will help you stop, breathe & think, and relax after a long day and go to sleep feeling happier and calmer. These are the best apps to help you exert more control over your mental health.

Top 5 apps to help you relax

Calm

Calm asks you how you’d best like to let off steam, and starts with a soothing voice talking you through simple things you can do to relieve stress, like sitting up straight, breathing exercises, and meditation sessions. There are also a number of well-being tracks that you can choose from, like a recording of Bob Ross as he’s painting, nature sounds, and the impressive Sleep Stories series that include bedtime stories that promote stress relief, lower stress levels, and bring on deep sleep. You start with a 7-day free trial, and then you pay $59.99 per year for basic access. Available on iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones.

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Headspace

The main focus of Headspace is meditation. When you sign up, it starts by first getting to know you by asking a few questions about your experience with meditation. You’ll then choose the time of day you like to meditate the most and the app will set a reminder to begin sessions lead by different people that vary in length. Available for iOS and Android.

Headspace Download now

My Oasis

My Oasis lets you create your own floating sanctuary in the sky and inhabit it with animals and plants. Collect hearts by tapping anywhere on the screen and use those to get more animals, plants, aircraft, and decorations. My Oasis has a dreamy aesthetic that makes you feel like nothing could ever go wrong. Available for iOS and Android.

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Terrarium

Terrarium is an app where you can maintain your own greenhouse. You collect oxygen bubbles that are released by your plants, allowing you to level up and select different types of plants. The more you level up, the more oxygen bubbles you have, and not only can you get more plants, but also fertilizer and bug repellant. Double and triple the amount of bubbles you can get by watching short in-game advertisements. Available for iOS and Android.

Terrarium Download now

SelfCare

Selfcare uses everyday tasks like watering plants, reading, and putting away laundry to declutter your character’s space and organize your mind. You’ll tap different objects around the room, which take you to mini-games or display self-help phrases. This mindfulness app is available on Apple iOS devices.

SelfCare Download now

Now, take a deep breath, clear your mind, and enjoy a calmer day.

Best Instagram accounts to train at home

All these Instagram accounts will inspire you to live a healthier lifestyle that’ll have you feeling much better and looking fantastic.

This week we’re bringing you all the best apps and social media accounts that can help you live healthy, happy lives even when staying indoors for long periods of time. Yesterday we looked at all the best mindfulness and meditation apps to help you safeguard your mental health even during adverse situations. Looking after your mind, however, isn’t enough. You also need to look after your body and today, and for the rest of the week, we’re going to help you do so.

Tomorrow we’ll be looking at the best YouTube channels offering good workout sessions and we’ll also look at workout apps this week too. Today though, we’re looking at another social network that has many accounts promoting healthy living. Believe it or not, Instagram is a fantastic resource for anybody looking to start working out or generally just try to get in shape. There is plenty of fit and healthy people on Instagram who are more than happy to share all their secrets with you. Let’s look then at some of the best Instagram workout ideas, programs, and fitness accounts.

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Best fitness Instagram accounts

These Instagram classes will have your body in tip-top shape in no time. Follow them all to inject your Instagram feed with fitness videos and workouts, healthy lifestyle tips, and recipes that are both good for your body and good for your soul.

Megan Roup

Mega Roup’s Instagram account is impressive, inspirational, and bursting with positivity. Roup founded a very popular cardio class called The Sculp Society, which became a bit of a cult classic in NYC. The Sculp Society uses fun and active routines pulling in the likes of dance and high-rep full-body toning exercises to get your blood pumping. Roup’s classes are lots of fun and will help you with weight loss and reaching your fitness goals.

Her Instagram builds on the success of her app, showcasing fantastic behind-the-scenes videos and photos as well as more intimate shots grabbed from Roup’s personal life. The videos here are fun little blasts, usually focusing on a single move or routine. Every now and then though, you’ll stumble upon a fab little dance routine that’ll leave you feeling motivated and hungry for your next exercise.

Anna Kaiser

Anna Kaiser is one of a particular type of personal trainer. Bursting with positive energy, Kaiser sees it as her mission to have you pumped for your session. Motivation is both the biggest ally and potential enemy of any would-be workout enthusiast, which explains why Kaiser takes it so seriously. If you’re up for your workout, you’ll take so much more from it. If you’re not, well let’s just say you’ll struggle to get through your routines or complete your exercises effectively.

In this regard, Kaiser’s Instagram page is full of high-energy and High-Intensity-Interval-Training (HIIT) workouts that will vary your heart rate for maximum efficiency. You’ll also get healthy recipe ideas as well as all the exercise guidance, meaning you can get a full service from Kaiser if you follow her Instagram account. What’s also great about this account is that all the exercises can be done at home without too much fuss.

The Rock

Dwayne Johnson doesn’t too much introduction. The ex-wrestler has established himself as one of Hollywood’s hottest properties coming across as a much family-friendly version of what Arnie offered during the 80s. The Rock is huge, strong, yet also sensitive and welcoming. That is of course until you head to is his Instagram account where he shares his grueling weight-lifting workouts.

What’s really great about The Rock’s Instagram account is that you get to see exactly what it takes to have such a huge body. His workout routines can be insane at times but he’s always trying to bring you along for the ride too. On top of the workout videos and behind-the-scenes pictures, you’ll also get plenty of motivational messages from the big guy too. Cheat Day Recipes is another regular feature of the account, which sees The Rock go through some excellent cheat day recipes that won’t undo all the good work you’ve been putting through the week.

Ebenezer Samuel

If you’re stuck in the house, there aren’t much better Instagram accounts you can follow than Ebenezer Samuel. Samuel is a very well thought of personal trainer and he posts a few new workout routines every week. This means there is a vast wealth of personal training content there all ready for you to get into and you’ll never run out as he’s constantly updating his page and keeping it fresh.

The real reason Samuel’s is perfect for home workouts though is that he loves incorporating no equipment bodyweight exercises and everyday household items into his workout routines. You’ll regularly see him doing strength training reps with jugs and bottles of water, heavy bags, and very simple setups including resistance bands and basic dumbbells. The message from Samuel is clear. Just grab what you can and get at it. There’s nothing stopping you from working towards that healthier, fitter lifestyle.

Don Saladino

Don Saladino is a personal trainer to the stars. If you’ve ever seen movies with the likes of Ryan Reynolds or Blake Lively, you’ve seen just how good Saladino’s results can be. The big Don was also behind David Harbour’s impressive transformation into local super cop Jim Hopper in the Netflix smash Stranger Things.

Saladino’s Instagram account is a treasure trove of short workout videos, inspirational behind-the-scenes images, and all manner of quick tips and tricks to get you moving in the right direction. All these exercises can be done at home too with Saladino also pulling in different elements from the home such as the stairs into his routines. Beyond the odd dumbbell or kettlebell, there’s nothing major needed to get started here. Simply follow Saladino on Instagram and then follow his advice.

Best apps to workout at home

These apps will help you get in shape. They offer lots of great workouts and fitness routines.

Yesterday we looked at the best Instagram accounts for workouts and today we’re going to bring you the best-dedicated workout apps. This week we’re trying to promote apps and social media accounts that help people look after themselves while staying indoors. It is always important to look after both your body and your mind but even more when you’re stuck indoors. Hopefully, this week we’re helping our faithful Softonic readers stay safe and healthy while stuck inside. Make sure you check back in tomorrow when we’ll be looking at the best YouTube accounts for healthy workouts too.

Today though, it’s workout apps and we’ve got some great workout programs for you to download. Go through them, pick the fitness apps that suit your fitness goals best, download them, and off you go. Look after yourselves out there.

Best workout apps 2020

You need these apps on your phone if you’re trying to get in shape and live a healthier lifestyle.

7-minute workout

Not having enough time to train or workout is the most common excuse given by people for missing their gym sessions. The truth is though, that it is hard to find time to work out, particularly when you also have to consider getting changed into your gym clothes and then showering and changing afterward too. Even when working out at home, it can still feel hard to find time to work out. Well, not with the -minute workout app it isn’t.

The app available for Apple iOS iPhones and iPads, and Google Android smartphones and tablets gives you lightning-fast work out that will get your heart pumping and sweat pouring. What’s also great about this app is that the workouts it introduces don’t require any special equipment meaning you could start right now, if you wanted and be finished in less than ten minutes. It’s a workout plan you can do right now. Think about that and then think about what are you waiting for? Go get at it.

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Daily Workouts

Daily Workouts is another fantastic app that will turn your home into your gym. Again, this app is all about bodyweight meaning you won’t have to splash out on any expensive equipment or specialist weights, dumbbells, or kettlebells. These workouts can be tailored to your fitness level and ability too with the shortest workouts clocking in at just five minutes and targeting specific parts of your body and muscle groups. You can then push these workouts all the way up to half an hour giving your body a more generalized workout

Daily Workouts is also a very accessible app as it is both free to download and then free to use. If you’re looking to get started with a new fitness routine but don’t want to have to splash out for an expensive app or subscribe to a monthly program, this is the app for you.

Daily Workouts Download now

Fiton

Fiton is another completely free app that will push you to your limit during each fitness class and slowly but surely stretch out your limit over a long period of time. There’s a lot of variety here too with the app covering all sorts of different bases including HIIT workouts (High-Intensity Interval Training), Yoga classes, Pilates, and even some cardio-focused dance classes and lessons thrown into the mix too.

The secret to Fiton’s success is that it takes new workouts from some of the biggest and best personal trainers out there and puts them in your hand for free. The Fiton trainers have worked with some of the most famous celebrities out there including the likes of Pink and Alicia Keys. The Fiton workouts are high energy and lots of fun, meaning you’ll feel more like you’re having a ball than slogging away in the gym.

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JEFIT

The JEFIT app and program is all about bodybuilding and strength training. If you think you’d like to bulk up, build muscle mass, and increase your power and strength while you’re staying at home, then this is the app for you. You’ll find a whole host of tools here too including a workout planner, training plan, progress tracker, many different types of exercise timer, and a special log for keeping notes on your progress.

JEFIT is also a very cool app because it allows you to focus your exercises and concentrate on particular body parts. The app is all about data too with the aim being to give you as much control over your development as possible. There’s a lot here too with plenty of bodyweight exercises but also plenty of routines including dumbbells and kettlebells.

JEFIT Download now

Home Workout – No Equipment

The Home Workout app is all about turning any room in your house into a gym. You don’t need an expensive gym membership; you don’t need fancy exercise equipment in your home. All you need is this app, a can-do attitude and motivation to keep at it while you’re stuck in the house. There are plenty of exercises here too that offer users a full-body workout covering everything from legs, arms, and abs to butt, chest, shoulders.

There are many different routines users can follow and each also includes warm-up exercises and stretching routines. It is very important to stretch properly after a decent workout and may apps overlook this important stage of the workout.

Home Workout Download now

Wrapping up

So, you’ve now got five apps that you can turn to help you live a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle even while stuck in your doors. The key to making progress with any of these apps though is sticking with it. It’s not about lifting the heaviest weights or pushing yourself harder than you’ve ever been pushed before. It is about setting yourself realistic goals and sticking with your program over a long period of time.

Best apps for living a healthy lifestyle

These are all the best apps you can download that will help you live a healthy lifestyle.

Healthy living has evolved into some sort of modern-day religion. You have healthy living gurus and lifestyle coaches all out there trying to help you live your best life. You then have all manner of different diets and exercise plans you can follow and a whole host of books, videos, guides, and tutorials out there trying to help you fine-tune the decisions you make on a daily basis in search of a healthy lifestyle that will make you feel better and live longer. We now have a new pillar that supports us in our quest to live a healthy lifestyle, the trusty mobile app.

That’s right, apps are now fantastic tools for helping us stay healthy in many different ways. There are now apps for tracking what we eat and recommending healthy meal plans, recording our activity and promoting suitable exercises to boost our bodies and even apps that track lots of different biometric health data giving us greater insight into how our bodies are working than we’ve ever had before.

Best health apps

MyFitnessPal

The first app we’re featuring today is a fantastic food tracking app that will help with weight loss. MyFitnessPal has a huge database of known foods and tries to make logging what you eat easier than ever. All foods in the database have nutritional information attached and there are literally millions of different foods and dishes here, with even common restaurant meals also in the list and ready for you to track. What’s also great about MyFitnessPal is that it will offer you macro-nutrient guidelines based on the individual nutritional needs of your diet. If you’re looking to eat more carbs or protein, for example, then MyFitnessPal will analyze the foods you’re eating and let you know whether you need to eat more or less of any particular foods.

MyFitnessPal Download now

Home Workout

So, you’re tracking your calorie and macro-nutrient intake using MyFitnessPal and now you want to add fitness goals to your daily routine. For this, there is no better app for Apple iPhones or Android smartphones than Home Workout, which makes it easy to start working out at home without the need for any specialist equipment at all. This app is like having your own personal trainer.

Once you’ve downloaded Home Workout you won’t need a gym membership or your own weights or home equipment. The app will give you routines including weight training and strength training. You’ll also get warm-up routines and cool-down stretches as well a wide range of analytics tools including tracking charts and graphs, and drink reminders and period trackers if you want to go that far.

Home Workout Download now

Headspace

Now that you have your diet taken care of and a decent home workout routine set up the next step should be taking care of your mental health and well-being. This is what the app Headspace is about, helping you stay calm and relaxed and maintaining strong mental health. Eating well and regular exercise will help you stay on top of your mental health, but Headspace will help you take control of it.

Headspace, which is available for iOS and Android phones offers guided meditation sessions, help with sleep patterns, and many different ways to try and deal with stress and anxiety. There’s also access to emergency stress releasing sessions for people dealing with intense levels of stress or personal distress. There’s a free version of headspace but a lot of the features remain behind a monthly subscription.

Headspace Download now

Lumosity

Another great app to keep you feeling sharp and clear-minded is Lumosity. This free app sends you daily brain games and puzzles designed to both test your mental dexterity and expands it. Lumosity offers great quizzes, puzzles, and teasers that will require critical thinking, memory, and deep problem-solving skills to solve. This app is like a gym routine for your brain. It will get your synapses firing and keep your mental dexterity fresh and ready for a challenge.

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Runtastic

Runtastic has been one of the best apps for tracking runs for quite some time now. As well as the regular run tracking app, Runtastic has also expanded to track many other types of activities such as bodyweight training and daily steps. Runtastic offers you stats and graphs on your performance and progression and also works seamlessly with other wearable devices like Android smartwatches and even shoe trackers. As well as the free version, which you can sync with other fitness apps such as Google Fit or MyFitnessPal, Runtastic also has a premium plan that you can pay monthly or annually.

Runtastic Download now

Sweatcoin

This app offers a unique spin on getting yourself active. Sweatcoins are a type of crypto coin that you generate when walking. You download the app onto your iPhone or Android smartphone and then allow it to track your steps. For every 1,000 steps, you take you’ll generate 0.95 Sweatcoins, which puts you on just over nine coins a day if you average 10,000 steps. This app should be seen as a novelty, however, rather than a genuine fitness app as the average item, you can get with your Sweatcoins costs 20,000 coins, which will take you around six years to collect, going on the average step rate outlined above.

Sweatcoin Download Sweatcoin Now

Sleep Cycle

The final app in our list of healthy living apps is designed to help you get the best night’s sleep possible. Sleep Cycle tracks how deeply you sleep at night and is also able to track your heart rate through the night as you sleep. Another cool feature of the Sleep Cycle app is that it will wake you up during light patches of sleep. Basically, as the app tracks how deeply you’re sleeping, you’ll be able to set a period of time when it will assess your sleep patterns and then wake you when you’re in your lightest sleeping phase. This way you’ll feel fresh when you wake up because you won’t feel like you’ve been disturbed from a deep sleep.

Sleep Cycle Download now

Instagram tests new anti-bullying features

Instagram now asks bullies if they’re sure they want to post harmful content and offers new “Restrict” capabilities to users!

In a recent blog post, Instagram reaffirmed its commitment to lead the fight against online bullying. This isn’t the first time we’ve covered Instagram’s efforts and it is good to see the most aesthetically-minded of all the social networks taking efforts to protect its users against online abuse. Mental health is fragile on social media and Instagram users can often castigate themselves even before the bullies get a chance to.

This is why it was refreshing to see Instagram remove the “like” counter on posts, which itself continued on from anti-bullying action it took back in October. This action included introducing an AI algorithm that hunts out bullying sentiment and the promotion of anti-bullying campaigns across the network. So, with Instagram reaffirming this mission, let’s have a look at the new actions the social network is promoting.

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Instagram’s anti-bullying efforts

The first major feature uses the anti-bullying AI we mentioned earlier, and forces bullies to reconsider their potentially harmful actions. Whenever an Instagram user moves to post content that the AI flags as potentially offensive, Instagram will let them know and ask them if they’re sure they want to post it.

Instagram claims that early tests of this feature, “… have found that it encourages some people to undo their comment and share something less hurtful once they have had a chance to reflect.”

Although this action might not sound like much, it is worth noting at this point that some bullies won’t consider themselves to be bullies and might not even be aware that the comments they’re making could be harmful to the person who is on the receiving end.

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The second action Instagram has taken is a move to protect the victims of online bullying.

“Restrict” gives users the chance to control the comments and posts that they have to interact with on Instagram without notifying any users whose content might fall under the limits of the new feature. This feature comes directly from feedback the social network has received from users, who’ve said, “… they’re reluctant to block, unfollow, or report their bully because it could escalate the situation, especially if they interact with their bully in real life.”

Whenever a user restricts another user, their comments will remain visible to them as they always have done but the restrictor, or anybody else viewing the original post, will not be able to see them. The feature also gives the restrictor the power to make the restricted comments visible, should they be suitable. Another cool feature is that all users you’ve restricted won’t know when you’re online or be able to see, if you’ve read their direct messages.

You can now mute accounts on Instagram. Here’s how.

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Wrapping up

Both of these features mark positive tools for Instagram users falling on both sides of the bullying relationship. Hopefully, over time their positive effect will become well-known with bullies making less hurtful comments and victims being able to control who sees anything negative said about them on any of their posts.

Amazon’s Alexa to start dispensing health advice

Amazon thinks its new NHS-backed Alexa service could especially help patients who are old, blind, or who don’t otherwise have access to the internet.

In what is probably the whackiest tech news of the day, Alexa users in the UK can now turn to their Alexa smart speakers for NHS health advice.

The NHS is the UK’s state provided healthcare service. The move means that Alexa will be able to use NHS information, which has been verified by health professionals to answer health-related questions.

What does all this mean though? Are we heading into a future where the traditional doctor doesn’t exist and what about all the privacy concerns relating to smart assistants in general and Alexa specifically?

Alexa's cool new updates

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Amazon thinks its new NHS-backed Alexa service could especially help patients who are old, blind, or who don’t otherwise have access to the internet

The new partnership between Amazon and the NHS has been spearheaded by NHSX, which is an NHS body tasked with bringing digital technology to NHS patients. The idea has been well received by the UK’s Royal College of GPs with chairwoman, professor Helen Stokes-Lampard saying, “This idea is certainly interesting and it has the potential to help some patients work out what kind of care they need before considering whether to seek face-to-face medical help, especially for minor ailments that rarely need a GP appointment, such as coughs and colds that can be safely treated at home.” Stokes-Lampard did have a number of caveats to add though.

“This needs to be the best it can be with the right information for patients” @HelenRCGP talks to @BBCNews about how voice-activated technology could support the NHS https://t.co/IhwV9pPFP5 pic.twitter.com/iHm4gvCk8O

— RCGP (@rcgp) July 10, 2019

As you’d expect from a well-respected medical body, the Royal College of GPs called for independent research to be carried out to ensure that the advice being given by the Amazon assistant is safe and correct.

If you’ve ever been told by Google that you’re going to die when you’ve searched about a minor headache, you’ll know why this is important. Over-zealous advice could end up sending more people to doctors unnecessarily.

As well as the legitimacy of the advice being offered, the other major concern is privacy. How does doctor-patient confidentiality work, if you’re discussing your health issues with a smart speaker connected to a global corporation?

A NHS hospital — The new scheme could relieve pressure on hospitals and GPs but also raises a number of concerns

There have been some worrying developments relating to Alexa recently, with it coming out that Amazon has been keeping transcripts of interactions with Alexa, even after users had deleted them. Even worse is the news that some Amazon employees have had access to these transcripts and even shared the ones they thought were interesting with their colleagues.

Alexa, who have you sold my health data to?

Matt Hancock’s NHS deal with Amazon – one of the most aggressive corporate data guzzlers – risks people being profiled & targeted based on health concerns.

It’s a data protection disaster waiting to happen.https://t.co/Pfgoa7LGua pic.twitter.com/kUauAvmvMY

— Big Brother Watch (@bbw1984) July 10, 2019

This is an issue that has already been picked up by the British privacy advocates Big Brother Watch. The organization has called the moved a data-protection disaster waiting to happen with director Silkie Carlo saying, “Encouraging the public to give their private health details to one of the most aggressive corporate data guzzlers is astonishingly misguided… This scheme will likely result in people being profiled and targeted by data brokers based on their deeply personal health concerns.” It might not just be people laughing at our private medical information, it could end up being sold just like the rest of our data too.

With healthcare being such a huge market, the big tech companies have been looking for ways in for years now. Those organizations are n’t without their fair share of health-related problems either. The UK government might have given Amazon a leg-up in its bid to establish itself as a healthcare provider that can be trusted and relied upon.

The truth of the matter, however, is that whereas this move could help relieve under pressure GPs up and down the UK, through answering questions about basic and simple medical related questions, there are plenty of concerns that need addressing before we can rely on our smart speakers to give us sound and private medical advice.

Facebook takes aim at misleading health products

Facebook reducing the spread of fake “miracle medicine” from the platform.

We’ve all seen them: ads on Facebook promising a miracle cure that’s too good to be true.

These snake oil products say things like, “These pills will make you lose weight, grow your hair back, get rid of those stretch marks, make you live to be 100, and vanquish your enemies!”

As this misinformation about these miracle products counts as fake news, Facebook is making the effort to stop them.

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In a recent blog post, Facebook announced that they are reducing the following types of health-related posts:

Posts with exaggerated or sensational health claims
Posts attempting to sell products or services with health-related claims

Basically, if a pill claims that it can reduce belly-fat without changes to diet and exercise, Facebook will determine whether or not it should be hidden from viewers.

How big is this problem?

You might think that you’re savvy enough to realize when a product is too good to be true, but there are several that continue to dupe people.

For example, Essential Oils are making billions of dollars. Many people buy the product as they think it can treat their symptoms, but there are no studies that show that Essential Oils have any physical effect on the human body. Despite the fact that there is no research that says Essential Oils can treat your symptoms, they are still marketed as being something that can treat diseases like autism.

Will this affect my page?

Unless you’re trying to hawk some “miracle pills” on your Facebook page, you won’t be affected. However, some pages you might be following will. Facebook said they will be handling the situation the same way they handle clickbait, which means they will be looking for key phrases commonly used in these snake oil sales pitches.

“Posts with sensational health claims or solicitation using health-related claims will have reduced distribution,” Facebook wrote. “Pages should avoid posts about health that exaggerate or mislead people and posts that try to sell products using health-related claims. If a Page stops posting this content, their posts will no longer be affected by this change.”

Which search engine is the best for health issues?

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Keeping on the theme of Essential Oils, let’s take a look at a major Essential Oils Facebook page. Young Living Essential Oils has about 1.5 million likes. The page posts information about Essential Oils and links to buy their products. If they advertise that they can make your stinky apartment smell better, the post should remain on the page. However, if they advertise that the product will help reduce your child’s ADHD symptoms, they should be blocked according to this new policy from Facebook.

Wrapping up

It’s great that Facebook is taking steps to ensure that you won’t see these snake oil pitches. However, we need to stay educated about the misinformation these products spread across the web. Before making a purchase, do some research to determine whether or not the product is proven to work. Also, always consult your doctor before taking a new medication.