Meditation apps also experienced a post-pandemic falloff. You must have tried to meditate. You know it would probably be good for you!
But no matter how much you tried, and if your therapist asks, you tried, you couldn’t make the habit stick. So it would help if you had given up.
And you are not alone: over the past two years, Lesser and lesser people have been using meditation apps like Calm and Headspace, according to some recent data from app research enterprise Apptopia.
User sessions at the top 10 meditation apps in the United States peaked in the first half of 2020. That’s not a huge surprise — at the time, we were dealing with the emergence of a global pandemic that upended life around the world and fundamentally changed people’s day-to-day routines. But usage has been steadily falling since then, according to the report. For example, the number of sessions on the Calm app fell 26.4 percent between July 2021 and July 2022. It was worse for Headspace, which had a 60.3 percent drop over the same period.
There are some potential explanations for this trend. First, companies pushed meditation apps as a solution to the soaring levels of stress and mental health challenges people faced early in the pandemic. But now, people aren’t at home for long periods the same way they were at the start of the pandemic and might have less time or interest in meditating.
Pandemic aside, significant political shifts have occurred in the past few years. For example, meditation app usage started to climb after Donald Trump became president and started to fall around when Joe Biden was sworn into office. Of course — as the report notes and Verge readers know well — correlation is not causation. So we’re not going to entice any conclusions from that particular trend, but it does raise an eyebrow.
In some ways, meditation apps are a symptom of the massive demand for mental health treatment in the US. There are long waiting lists for traditional mental health services, and it’s often difficult for people to find affordable and accessible therapists. In recent years, tech companies have started capitalizing on this demand, offering services that they say can fill that gap.
Meditation apps are a small segment of this more significant trend, with companies like Talkspace and Ginger also marketing themselves as mental health solutions. Of course, we can’t expect mental health apps to go away anytime soon, but the new data hints that — at least for now — they’re not taking over as a long-term solution.
Calm is an award-winning mindfulness app for iOS, Android, and desktop. Created in 2012, Calm has over 100 million downloads and around 700,000 5-star reviews.
The app features many calming exercises, valuable breathing techniques, and sleep stories from celebrities like Matthew McConaughey and LeBron James.
Calm has multiple offerings, and the interface is pretty simple. Plus, they’re constantly adding new content.
Calm has the alternative for users to access either a 7-day free trial or the accessible version of the app without spending for premium contact. Calm is created on a “freemium” model.
After the free trial concludes, access to the entire library is $14.99 per month or $69.99 per year. If you pay for the year in total, it comes to $5.83 per month, which is more reasonable than other meditation apps on the market.
For teams of 5 or more, Calm proposes a 15-percent discount. And Calm family schedules are available for up to six users at $99.99 a year.
As soon as you unlock it, the app acquires you to take a few deep breaths. Then, a pop-up menu asks you to determine what brought you to the app so that it can tailor suggestions based on your objectives.
The meditation section is categorized into different categories: stress, focus, anxiety, and relationships. In addition, Calm delivers both guided and unguided meditations. The sessions can vary anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes.
Calm doesn’t concentrate on religious or spiritual themes but on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). This program teaches people to use their natural resources to help manage stress and pain.
Calm is best known for its meditations. They’re divided into different categories: sleep, inner peace, anxiety, emotions, beginners, work, and personal growth.
Each category includes topic-specific meditation packs or singles. For example, in the anxiety section, you’ll discover sessions like “Calming Flight Anxiety,” “Panic SOS,” and “Letting Go into Sleep.”
Beginners are prompted to start with the “7 Days of Calm” sequel and then transition into “21 Days of Calm” to hone their skills.
The app allows you to customize the volume and speed of individual breathing exercises. You can also customize the duration of your breathing exercise within a 1- to 60-minute timeframe.
The app is continually being revised with new stories. They’re often narrated by A-list celebrities like Scottie Pippen, Harry Styles, and Kelly Rowland. There are even periodic nap sessions for those seeking a quick snooze.
The music division of Calm contains hundreds of curated soundtracks to set you at ease while working, walking, or falling asleep. The app has everything organized into six classifications: focus, sleep, lullabies, relax, soundscapes, and nature melodies.
Calm is a science-based mindfulness app that beginners and experts can use. So if you are scrutinizing to see more peace in your daily life, or if you’re skimming to add new tools to your mental health toolkit, it might be worth giving Calm a shot.
The more you operate the app and its many features, the more you might detect positive mental health benefits.
Headspace is a mindfulness, meditation, and relaxation app specially designed to help you with stress relief and anxiety release. Breathe easy, relax, and calm your mind with meditation daily with Headspace. Then, relax and sleep well with the meditation studio that supports you everywhere.
Mindful meditation lets you calm down and breathe to relax during life’s difficult moments. Life is hard sometimes. Headspace is here to guide you through stress. Headspace has guided meditation, breathing exercises, sleep melodies, and centered fitness training to nurture your mind, body, and spirit. Calm your mind every day, at any time, from anywhere. Relaxing sounds, breath work, and mindful meditation are excellent ways to destress during the day or at night. Use Headspace to help you sleep better and practice mindful meditation with soothing sounds to help with stress and anxiety.