(Harvard Health) -- These days it seems like there's an app for almost everything you can do for your health, from tracking your diet and exercise to chart your sleep patterns.
So, it's no surprise that there's been a surge in apps to help with meditation, an ancient practice designed to help you focus inward to promote relaxation.
In fact, Apple designated "self-care" — a category that includes meditation, mindfulness, and general wellness — as the 2018 "app trend of the year."
This mirrors a growing interest in meditation as an overall health strategy, a move likely driven by a growing body of research showing potential health benefits from the practice.
"Studies show that meditation and mind-body exercises tend to promote processes such as self-awareness, self-efficacy, self-care, and emotion regulation, which can, in turn, have a profound effect on supporting the engagement of heart-healthy behaviors like a smart diet and physical activity," says Dr. Gloria Yeh, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Increasing scientific support
A 2014 research review published in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that meditation may help ease anxiety, pain, and depression.
And in 2017, the American Heart Association looked at how meditation might specifically improve cardiovascular health. Experts reviewed dozens of studies and found that that meditation might improve a number of factors associated with heart disease, including stress, poor sleep quality, and high blood pressure.
"There is promising, though currently inconclusive, evidence to support the use of meditation for heart health," says Christina M. Luberto, a clinical psychology postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine.
Getting started with meditation
If you're interested in trying meditation, there are many avenues that you can use to get started, says Dr. Yeh. These include
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formal classes or programs, such as mindfulness-based stress reduction
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meditative movement classes, including tai chi and yoga
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online resources
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free mobile apps that teach mindfulness meditation.
Yoga or tai chi classes, in particular, may be an easy avenue toward learning mindfulness techniques, says Dr. Yeh. Not all classes emphasize meditation, but many do.
"Evidence from pooled systematic reviews and meta-analyses suggest that yoga has cardiovascular benefits," says Dr. Yeh. It has been shown to help reduce weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, stress markers, and inflammation.
In addition, "some studies have found improvement in blood sugar levels in people with metabolic syndrome, although results are mixed," says Dr. Yeh.
Technology cautions
If you want to try one of the growing numbers of meditation apps, a dose of caution is warranted. "We really don't have a lot of data on the efficacy of mindfulness apps. Many apps are not high-quality, based on evidence," says Luberto.
A 2015 review of mindfulness apps by the journal JMIR mHealth and uHealth, which focuses on health and biomedical technology, found that very few meditation apps had high ratings on the Mobile Application Rating Scale, which looks at visual quality, engagement, how well the apps work, and the information they provide. "But since this review, the landscape has exploded with new and improved apps," says Dr. Yeh.
With this in mind, newcomers to meditation might want to use apps as a supplement to other strategies, such as taking a class. "In these cases, the apps can help with staying committed and tracking your regular practice," says Luberto.
There are many different types of meditation techniques, and ultimately trial and error might be the best way to find the right match for you.
"There really isn't a wrong way to practice meditation. It is a process and a journey that requires openness and patience," says Dr. Yeh.
