• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

COVID-19 UPDATE – Click to Read

Get the Guide: Thriving Mental Health Alongside COVID-19

Justin K. Hughes, MA, LPC

Justin K. Hughes, MA, LPC

Get Unstuck From Fear

  • Home
  • Treatment Areas
  • About
    • About Justin
    • Speaking & Training
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Make an Appointment

Fitbit Your Way To Mental Health

Posted January 27, 2017 in Mental Health Share:

Primary Sidebar

Search Posts

Recent Posts

  • Intrusive, Unwanted Thoughts and Faith (I am Second Blog)
  • I Want To Hold Your Ha-aa-aa-aaand
  • Accidental Exposure: A Strong Mind Is Not Made In Comfort
  • Why I Say ‘Thank You’ to Amazon Alexa (It’s Not What You’d Think)
  • Getting Aroused With Anxiety

Categories

Picture

You may have just gotten an activity tracker over the holidays, or maybe you’ve already jumped on the bandwagon of wearable tech.  Not only do activity monitors like Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Spire track steps, heart rate, sleeping, and more, you can turn your tracker into an ally for mental health.

Here’s how.

Being able to track and monitor your thoughts, mood, emotions, symptoms, and sensory experiences is arguably one of the central tenets of most schools of therapy.  It is nowhere more prominent than in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), where awareness of internal processes is a first step to changing outcomes.  For years, techniques such as journaling and monitoring have been used, but this new technological age adds a few extra tools that can be a boon for awareness.  But you also have to build the emotional intelligence and discipline to catch what’s going on and translate that into meaningful action.  Following are some tips.  (Remember that some people will have more stress by using a monitor- if so, practice these same tips without help from Mr. Fitbit).

  1. Be aware.  Occasionally throughout the day, check in with yourself (or a buddy!)  Ask if your heart rate, breathing, sleeping, thoughts, or mood fits the goals you have (see #3).  Pay attention to little details.  Was my heart rate elevated over the holidays because of my activity level, or stress?  Did I sleep less last week because of something planned, or because of insomnia?  Was I irritable at work?  Did I feel anxious around people?  If you want to change something, you have to identify what you’re working with first.  Allow yourself to take note without spending too much time on any one thing.
  2. Let an external tracker add to your awareness.  Utilize the unconscious observations your tracker makes to correspondingly assist in your own mindfulness.  Those of you who have had the helpful feedback of a trusted support can attest to the value of observations made outside of yourself.  I, for one, appreciate the occasional fashion police!  🙂
  3. Identify the goal.  What are you trying to accomplish?  Better sleep?  Getting less stressed at work?  Being clear about this in a reasonable way gives you a target to aim for- and helps you see if you need extra resources in getting it done.  (See my Setpoints resource to help further.)
  4. Identify solutions.  Once you have tracked your experience and know the goal, then you can apply solutions.  Heart rate at 110 while sitting at work?  Try some deep breathing and a de-stressing activity.  Notice you’re not taking many steps?  Take 3 minutes to get up and move.  Sleep getting off track?  Develop some sleep hygiene techniques.  And so on and so forth.
  5. Be social.  Whether you are extroverted/introverted or outgoing/shy, connecting in some way with others is essential to your health.  Trackers give lots of options to do this in fun, cute, and challenging ways.

Make it fun, and happy healthy tracking!  Sincerely,

Justin

Tags:

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related posts

Intrusive, Unwanted Thoughts and Faith (I am Second Blog)

Honored to be featured again in the I Am Second mental health blog, this post addresses the common occurrence of Intrusive Thoughts and how those of Christian faith can live in freedom. Click Here to Read NOW

Read More >
person holding hands
I Want To Hold Your Ha-aa-aa-aaand

The Beatles were on to something. It turns out that holding your romantic partner’s hand is good for you.  New research reveals that if you do so during emotional distress, it actually lessens emotional pain in recall later.  (Sahi et al., 2021). The study defines emotional pain as “an unpleasant feeling (or suffering) associated with […]

Read More >
2nd. gen black Amazon Echo speaker on white panel
Why I Say ‘Thank You’ to Amazon Alexa (It’s Not What You’d Think)

The power of habit is a currently popular topic, no doubt through the lens of James Clear, Harvard Business Review, and similar ilk.  Social media influencers give us all sorts of ‘hacks’ to make a habit in 30 days, get a flat belly, and more. While there’s a mix of good and a lot of […]

Read More >
woman in black tank top
Getting Aroused With Anxiety

Mark* was generally confident in his therapy, but bringing up sex….well, he got a little sheepish.  He had these small avoidances that he never realized were behavioral and cognitive avoidances.  For example, he would never have sex with his wife when the kids weren’t away from home.  He intentionally steered conversation away from topics with […]

Read More >
person in brown long sleeve shirt covering face with hand
Intrusive, Unwanted Thoughts and Faith

“I feel like I really love my baby, but, I just don’t know. I have these terrible thoughts that pop into my mind. Thoughts of harming my baby. I actually vomited last night it made me so upset. I don’t know why I’m having these” “Everyone around me, including my pastor, seems to think I […]

Read More >
Faith Leaders- Ministering to Those with OCD

As a faith leader, you are the real front door to mental health. Despite the fact that doctors and hospitals may be attributed this designation, many people feel most comfortable talking about mental health issues with you first, and even at times exclusively.  You are as a whole sought out 50% more than doctors or psychiatrists to help alleviate mental and emotional problems- this puts you on the front lines.

Read More >

Footer

Owner, Dallas Counseling, PLLC 17330 Preston Road, Suite 102D Dallas, TX 75252

justin@dallascounseling.com
469-490-2002

Treatment Areas

  • CBT / Exposure Therapy
  • OCD & Anxiety
  • Addiction
  • General Mental Health
  • Christ-Centered Treatment

Upcoming Events

Common Pitfalls in ERP 4 OCD Livestream

Late Spring 2021
More to Come Soon!

OCD Texas' Learn at Lunch

July 2nd, 2021 - 12 noon (CST)
Click for More

Newsletter

Recent Talks

ERP 4 OCD

Download FREE

Common Pitfalls in ERP for OCD

Download FREE

Copyright © 2021 Dallas Counseling, PLLC. Privacy Policy

Important 3 Things: 1) We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. 2) Content is sometimes mature and/or geared towards different specialty audiences. 3) Professional content is educational in nature and doesn't substitute for professional therapy. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to both the use of ALL the cookies and agree to use of website as is.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

Performance

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

SAVE & ACCEPT